Integrating Sustainability Into Major Projects

CHAPTER 15Wrap-Up

We have worked on sustainability management on many different major projects, and in our experience, we have found that there were no practical guides to help with the integration of sustainability into project delivery. The academic literature provides some help, but it does not address the boots-on-the-ground realities of managing sustainability that we have experienced. The tools and processes that are used by corporate head offices or operating plants do not address the short-term, intense level of activity and complex risks of a developing major project. The upfront, one-off engagements and impact assessment processes typically end once the project is approved. And these processes do not provide further guidance on how to turn the expectations and commitments into reality during project delivery.

We have collected tools and processes from the front lines of sustainability management. Using our experiences and lessons learned, we intended for this book to be a useful resource for other project professionals engaged in major project delivery who are looking for new ideas to help them address sustainability challenges and create better projects. We also hope that it can be useful for everyone else involved in the delivery of major projects, including project owners, consultants and contractors, financing organizations, governments, and local communities, who can gain an understanding of the challenges that major projects face and the best practices available ...