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In today’s world, considering sustainability in project management is no longer an idealistic ambition of a small group of caring individuals. It is a reality and a necessity for all project professionals operating in today’s business environment, where economic performance must go hand in hand with performance on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria. Sustainable project management is the ‘new normal,’ in which the concepts of sustainability and social responsibility are integrated into project management practices. IPMA’s Sustainable Project Management ICB4 Reference Guide set the standard for this and described 92 sustainability-related key competence indicators that complement IPMA’s Individual Competence Baseline 4. This book provides the knowledge and understanding of sustainable project management that project professionals require to prepare themselves for an IPMA certification based on the Sustainable Project Management ICB4 Reference Guide. With this certification, a project professional is well positioned to lead projects in today’s business world. Sustainable project management represents a scope, a paradigm, and a mindset shift in project management. The IPMA Guide on Sustainable Project Management is written by an international team of experts in project management and sustainability, who aim to provide inspiration and practical guidance for project professionals on considering and integrating sustainability and responsibility into their daily practice. Sustainability is the goal we all share, and sustainable project management is the contribution the project professional can make.
Rating: 6.8 – IPMA Guide on Sustainable Project Management provides a comprehensive and well-structured exploration of sustainability within the discipline of project management. Rather than treating sustainability as a standalone concept, the guide integrates it throughout the project life cycle and the IPMA competency framework, demonstrating how sustainability principles can be embedded into project management practices. This integration of the IPMA competency framework with sustainability offers a new perspective on sustainable project management. The authors successfully connect project management with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals while incorporating concepts such as the circular economy and lean principles, making the guide relevant across industries and geographical contexts. The international author team draws on relevant sources and includes experts who were at the forefront of discussions on sustainable project management within the project management community.
One of the guide’s greatest strengths lies in its logical structure and academic rigor. It presents sustainability across multiple social systems, from the individual to society, while offering a broad range of methods, frameworks, and models, all supported by relevant sources. The inclusion of the E&ESG concept reinforces the importance of ensuring that sustainable projects remain economically viable. The content is professionally written, with a clear layout, effective use of headings, typography, color, diagrams, overview tables, and review questions that enhance readability and comprehension. The guide is particularly valuable as a reference, providing organizations and decision-makers with practical checklists and a structured approach to integrating sustainability into projects.
While the guide offers a wealth of knowledge, it is also demanding. The detailed and competency-based approach makes it more suitable as a reference or teaching guide than a practical handbook for day-to-day practitioners. Readers can focus on individual chapters or core concepts as needed, but fully benefiting from the guide requires time and careful study. The review questions at the end of each chapter provide a useful opportunity to reinforce learning, although the absence of an index is a noticeable shortcoming for a publication of this scope.
The guide encourages a significant mindset shift by integrating sustainability into project management competencies and advocating changes to established governance and management practices. However, its practical applicability is limited by the absence of detailed case studies, real-world examples, analogies, and implementation guidance. Although it introduces numerous methods and tools, readers seeking practical advice on applying sustainability throughout individual phases of the project life cycle may find the guidance insufficient. Similarly, while the combination of sustainability with the IPMA framework represents a new contribution, the discussion remains focused on what should be done rather than on how organizations can successfully implement these changes in practice.
Overall, the IPMA Guide on Sustainable Project Management is a valuable reference for professionals seeking a deeper understanding of sustainable project management. Its broad coverage, structured approach, and comprehensive treatment of sustainability make it a valuable resource for learning and organizational development, particularly when complemented by additional practical literature and implementation-focused resources.
A clear and authoritative guide that is packed with content. The layout, the use of headings, bulleted lists, and other typographical elements have been well considered to communicate the message and keep the reader focused on the page. Similarly, the careful use of color works very well, ensuring that the second color, or in those cases where four colors are used, genuinely helps the reader distinguish between elements and understand what is intended. The typography and colors help with clarity, while the images complement the text well and increase the possibility of understanding the content.
The authors do an excellent job of including all the elements and perspectives associated with sustainability in the context of projects, such as circular economy and lean principles. The guide does an effective job of connecting project management to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The text adopts a neutral stance on sectors or project types, which is understandable. The content is designed in a general way, regardless of location or industry, but it provides several examples of implementing sustainability in projects. However, it makes no reference to sector-specific approaches or to technologies such as AI, digitalization, automation (Industry 4.0), and the shift to Industry 5.0, which can help integrate sustainability into project management.
The Guide is highly clear and logical. It is steadfastly left-brained in its approach, which means that it can become hard to engage with the text or assimilate some of the ideas. The use of questions at the end of each chapter tends to reinforce its role as a teaching guide for IPMA’s ICB4 rather than as a field guide for the practitioner. It is possible to go through the basic areas and skip the advanced parts, focusing, for example, only on the link between sustainability and project management, or on the project life cycle and the integration of sustainability in its parts. Even in the sub-parts, the guide provides clear, logical insight into the issues. The questions at the end of each chapter also provide a practical way for readers to test their understanding of the material.
This text presents sustainability in project management with commendable logic and rigor, structuring its approach into four layers of social systems, from the individual to the societal level, and introducing a range of methods and tools along the way. Its realism is a particular strength: the acknowledgment that sustainable projects must be economically viable, embodied in the E&ESG concept, gives the work pragmatic grounding, and the careful integration of its content makes it a valuable source of checklists for decision-makers. However, the competence-based approach, at its heart, leaves little room for nuance or guidance on reconciling sustainability with the pressures of live projects. It also lacks analogies, stories, and worked examples that would help translate its frameworks into practice. As a result, the guide is more effective at encouraging a sustainability mindset than at providing practical examples of how to incorporate sustainability into individual phases of the project life cycle.
The guide takes a fresh approach by combining the IPMA competency framework with sustainability principles and integrating them across all relevant areas of project management. While the concept of sustainable project management has been discussed in the literature for the past 10–15 years, this particular synthesis is new and worthwhile. The guide does a commendable job of advocating for a shift in mindset, changing how projects are viewed, planned, and implemented, and is packed with information about what needs to change. For instance, it argues that the PM role should be repositioned alongside the sponsor’s, with both sharing responsibility for ensuring projects are delivered sustainably. This innovative reframing would require a systematic rethink of governance in many organizations. However, the guide falls short on the question of how these changes are to be achieved in practice. Despite the wealth of frameworks and principles on offer, practical examples are limited, and the gap between aspiration and implementation remains wide. For a field that is still far from embedding sustainability into day-to-day project practice, more concrete guidance would have significantly strengthened the work.
The guide focuses on developing the project manager’s competencies towards sustainability rather than presenting practical examples or case studies. While it introduces numerous methods and tools that can be applied in practice, it does not provide specific examples of their application or case studies from real or fictional organizations. As a result, readers looking for detailed practical illustrations may find this aspect limited.
The authors collectively represent a wealth of international real-world experience backed by academic rigor. The author team is international, including experts who were at the forefront of discussions on sustainable project management within the project management community. The book also draws on relevant sources to support its content.
This is a wide-ranging and well-considered reference for anyone seeking to understand what sustainable project management means in practice. It offers a comprehensive overview of how a project manager’s competencies need to be modified so that both procedures and outputs align with sustainability principles, covering the many facets that must be woven into any coherent sustainability strategy. Used alongside other resources on the topic, it will provide organizations with a valuable and detailed guide. That said, it is not an easy read. The text is extensive and demanding, and readers will need to invest time in translating its content into beliefs, behaviors, and practices suited to their own context, making notes along the way. Those who cannot commit to reading it cover-to-cover can still benefit by focusing on relevant chapters or core definitions while skipping more advanced sections. Readers will also benefit from consulting other literature to gain a broader and more comprehensive understanding of sustainable project management. For such an important reference work, the absence of an index is a notable shortcoming.
This is a very professionally written and produced guide that includes plenty of frameworks and models to help position the topic within wider management practice. The manual approaches the issue very broadly, draws on relevant sources, and offers a range of methods and tools that can be used throughout the project life cycle.
The visuals are well produced, clear, and highly relevant. The guide is well and clearly structured, and the diagrams, pictures, overview tables, and review questions complement the text well. The page layout is very clear, pleasant, and easy to follow.