Greening project management and green project managers

In 2011, CRC Press – Taylor & Francis Group published a book called Green Project Management, authored by Richard Maltzman and David Shirley. Maltzman, an engineer and project supervisor mostly in the telecommunications space; and Shirley, an instructor and consultant for leading project management education and training companies and the corporate arena – noted that while there had been much discussion around the topic of green business, there was little taking place about green projects, green project management and green project managers.

Their remedy was to package the energy, research and recommendations regarding green business as a microcosm of business that is project management, into a book about green project management. The result is a comprehensive book unpacking legislation, principles research and proven actions, using case studies to illustrate how green project management can effectively deliver on organisation strategy for green implementation, and how project managers can be change agents where no strategy exists.

It calls on project managers to change the way they think about projects – considering ‘greenness’ throughout the project, and making project-related decisions accordingly.

In fact, in some countries (certainly in the United States) in recent years, green project management has become an accepted term that means the combination of environmentally friendly standards with project management processes and methodologies, guided by a company’s environmental management system and evident in its operational processes, authorities, resources and responsibilities.

The call to go green

Climate change and its connection to the activities of organisations and people in general is probably the biggest driver toward adopting green practices. Vast amounts of scientific evidence – notably that which appeared in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report of 2007 – point to the phenomenon of global warming being as a result of human activity rather than a warming trend over which we as humans have no influence.

The IPCC sought to determine if the climate is changing and, if so, why. Its findings, referred to in the book and reflecting the views of thousands of scientists from around the world, suggest that “there is a greater than 90% chance that most of the warming we have experienced since the 1950s is due to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions from human activities.”

So whether you as project manager believe it is as a result of how we have been living and working – or not – your sponsor, stakeholders, clients or other role-players on your projects may do, and will eventually have expectations based on their beliefs.

Another driver of green activity is the increase in the population, which calls for using our natural resources more carefully to provide for a world population that is growing by about 78 million per year, mostly in underdeveloped countries that cannot sustain the growth.

Developing nations face the challenge of providing basic needs such as living space, and Maltzman and Shirley refer to several innovative projects undertaken by countries to respond to the related challenges.

Then there is the matter of environmental degradation caused by deforestation and pollution, and the resultant loss of biodiversity.

The language of green project management

In the process of writing the book, Maltzman and Shirley coined a new term: “greenality” (green + quality), which they consider the new measurement for a project’s green quality and which they define as “the degree to which an organisation has considered environmental factors that affect its projects during the entire project life cycle and beyond.”

It includes two project management processes: creating a plan to minimise the environmental impacts of projects, and the monitoring and controlling of the environmental impacts of the product of the project.

There are other terms becoming increasingly prevalent and which need to be understood by project managers. The authors explain them in the project sense:

Carbon footprint and sustainability

A carbon footprint is the residue left behind when using carbon-based fuels – not only the actual output of your heating or cooling systems and fuel consumption of your car, but also the energy required to deliver the things you consume such as food, appliances, etc.

The authors define sustainability as the balance that allows for our continued existence, and they quote the well-known Brundtland Commission definition: “meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

While sustainability has not yet been well defined in the project management sense, Maltzman and Shirley list one of the assertions of the Earth PM mission statement (another endeavour in which they are engaged: visit www.earthpm.com for more information), namely that project managers should view the various aspects of their project and the processes thereof through an environmental lens that “allows for long-term thinking and avails the project of the rising ‘green wave’ of environmentalism.”

The cycle of sustainability

This draws from examples in nature where a process can occur without waste and is considered desirable, though not often achievable in the project sense.

Again, project managers are encouraged to view their project through the environmental lens, being aware of its various impacts and how to mitigate these by design or through offsets.

Cradle to Cradle

The Cradle to Cradle concept deviates from the old industrial revolution notion of Cradle to Grave.

In Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, William McDonough and Michael Braungart suggest that the “Take, Make, Waste” approach to product design and manufacturing can adapt to generate goods and services with ecological, social and economic value if green principles are applied to each stage.

The Natural Step

According to Maltzman and Shirley, this is a founding concept in green thinking, which refers to four conditions of sustainability – with each condition having an associated principle of sustainability.

In essence, it means that by following the principles, we can contribute to reducing the build-up of the most toxic byproducts of society.

For a full explanation on the concept, visit www.naturalstep.org.

Biodegradability

This applies to the products used by project managers and the products of their projects, and the extent to which they biodegrade and the rate at which they do so.

PMs can better understand biodegradability and the real benefits of biodegradable products at the Biodegradable Products Institute (www.bpiworld.org).

Greenwashing

Like “whitewashing”, this term refers to false claims of a product or practice being truly environmentally responsible.

This type of deception could result in reputational risks when selling a product as “green” when it is not, and is a consideration when procuring with green intentions.

Triple bottom line

South Africans are increasingly familiar with triple bottom line reporting according to principles of good governance, where there is a business connection between people, planet and profit.

Project managers accustomed to balancing the triple constraints (time, cost and quality) will understand the interconnectedness of people, planet and profit.

Eco audit

This is largely determined by the industry in which you work, and the standards applied to calculating the carbon footprint, though most refer in some way to the usage of carbon dioxide.

Reduce, redesign, reuse, recycle

The project manager is ideally placed to find more innovative and efficient ways to apply limited resources – first to reduce, then failing this, to redesign.

Consideration should then be given to how a product of a project can be reused or recycled.

Renewable energy

Opportunities abound for applying renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal (heat from within the earth) energy and sustainable biomass (using byproducts of industries, such as crops and timber, for fuel).

Some tips for green thinking

The authors devote a chapter to this topic where they reflect the recommendations of several organisations and individuals that will help project managers become greener. Some of these are included here:

• Use voice over IP and virtual collaboration tools (of which there is a large variety available) to reduce travel for meetings;
• Introduce a paperless environment that includes not only how documents are stored, but how they are sent
  and accessed;
• Look at shared hosting environments (software as a service, or cloud computing) to host project data. Look at the optimal technology system when installing a computing solution or data centres, including use of lighting, power requirements, etc.;
• Run devices on battery power whenever possible to conserve energy;
• Network digital storage devices;
• Recycle consumables through official manufacturer programmes; and
• Look at what similar companies are doing to reduce their carbon footprint, such as Google (www.google.com/corporate/green/index.html) – how they dispose of waste, ensure shared transport for staff, use sustainable building materials, etc.

On your projects:

• Add a section for environmental impact to your project management tools, such as charter, risk management, and action plans;
• Entrench green thinking as part of your project DNA and use it as it applies to project resources, people, equipment and other materials;
• Have the right people in the right place at the right time;
• Make environmental impact a criterion for decision-making or project solutions;
• Ask environmental and sustainability questions at every stage of the project management process;
• Use digital media for project communications – consider using freelancers and subcontractors who work from home;
• Have your team turn off and unplug equipment at the end of the day; and
• Consider incentives for green efforts by team members. ☑

Taryn van Olden

Rich Maltzman will be a guest speaker at the Project Management South Africa KwaZulu-Natal Regional Conference in September 2011.

For more information, visit

www.projectmanagement.org.za.

Copies of “Green Project Management” are available from the PMSA national office. Call 011 257 8003 weekdays between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .