Integrating Sustainability Into Major Projects

CHAPTER 7Managing Risk and Opportunity

Integrating sustainability topics into project risk management is critical to effective risk management. One thing that makes sustainability risks more complex to manage than traditional project technical risks is that they often involve external factors that lie outside the project's direct control and require collaboration across departments. This does not mean that sustainability risks cannot be understood, managed, and mitigated. It simply means that project teams must pay close attention to risk management processes and procedures to ensure they are capturing the right risks, honestly assessing the impacts, and developing proactive management plans.

Effective risk management is becoming more important to:

• De-risk projects to support project financing and insurance as more major projects run into development and construction issues
• Manage the rapidly changing impact of social media and connectivity that makes anyone with a cell phone a potential investigative reporter and allows any community to assess how your organization has acted on other projects around the world
• Managing the potential physical, political, and financial impacts of a changing climate
• Understanding the impacts of social changes from demographics of an aging population to migration and pandemics

The benefit of a good risk program is that the project runs more smoothly, and the project team can focus on the challenges of creating a better project rather than running ...