The colour green operates on many levels: Woven of blue and gold, it stands for the variety of life convenient to bipedal mammals, with its connotations of foliage and freshness. Perhaps for this reason it was the favourite colour of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

But green also has connotations of nausea and bile. Think of the eerie glow of kryptonite, nemesis of Superman.

Green project management is an effort to draw from the positive qualities of the colour green: to structure processes in such a way to mitigate the nauseating accumulation of toxic substances that projects, particularly at large scale, tend to generate.

Not everyone enjoys talk of “green business”. It can smack of a hypocritical sentimentality that masks the dirty business of business from consumers who want to feel good about their cherished products at minimal real cost. Some call this “tree-hugging”.

It is clear, however, that a strategic vision comprehending the entire life cycle of a product, process or project and its connections – strong or weak – with other states of affairs, particularly states of affairs that concern its stakeholders, is going to yield better results than an approach that focuses purely on meeting that deadline, dammit, finish and klaar.

Such results are likely to be more efficient, in the first instance. Anglo Gold Ashanti is said to have saved R180 million over a three-year period through energy efficiency.

But there is more to efficiency than that. Consider the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project. An impressive feat of engineering – but certain blind spots in the strategy have generated some stiff challenges in getting the system going. Consideration and consulation of stakeholders (given Gauteng’s importance, the entire population of South Africa!) might have gone a long way there.

Project managers who align themselves with green project management will be in a position to advise the sponsors of such projects to avoid such costly errors – and the sponsors will be grateful.

Editor's note