Practical green initiatives for project managers

In addition to these three actions, here are some other examples of smaller green initiatives you may consider:

4. Plan environmental initiatives

Include environmental and sustainability initiatives in your project management plan to reinforce the project commitment to going green. Outline specific tasks the project will be expected to undertake during the project such as:

• Procurement: Ensure your procurement policies and selection criteria are based on sustainability and environmental measures.
• Employ appropriate technology: Maximise the use of virtual team meetings, for example, conducting of virtual training and travelling only when absolutely necessary, such as during a major milestone in a given project. Technology has progressed to the point in recent years allowing for video conferences, streaming videos and other forms of communication that reduce the requirements for face-to-face encounters without a reduction in the quality of the meeting
• Ensuring recycling logistics are in place at both virtual and face-to-face meetings. For virtual meetings, steps could be taken such as a requiring a recycle box for non-secure documents. The project manager can also coordinate the collection of the documents from all virtual locations. During face-to-face meetings, in addition to ensuring recycle bins are in place, the project manager may also require public transportation to the meeting and hire ‘green friendly’ vendors.
• Update signature lines: A good idea is to say words to this effect: ‘Be Green. Please don’t print this e-mail unless you absolutely have to.’ Use this as part of your e-mail signature.
• Include green statements: In your project templates, such as agendas, presentations and status reports some ‘go green’ statements. Verbally remind project team members to print only what is absolutely necessary.
• Keep electronic: Require electronic-only copies of project training and other artefacts when possible. Certain project artefacts, training materials and many other deliverables can actually be effectively carried out without printing.
• Use fax to PDF services: Using these services is a great idea especially when contracts are part of your project. Low cost faxes to PDF providers are readily available to send to a global audience. When a stakeholder faxes certain project documents, instead of printing them out, they can be converted to a PDF format and then automatically emailed to all the email addresses in a given account. Most of these services deliver the PDF versions in real time, which can reduce the paper output by as much as 50% without adding in delivery delays. The PDF received can then be saved in the project repository.

5. Improve your community

Try to find opportunities to put your project management skills to suitable use on various community projects, and show an interest in environmentally friendly ways of improving the community. This could be the organising of a community activity for your project team for the cleaning up of a park or waterway project. Other possibilities include the serving on planning committees for other types of green initiatives.

This article only touches upon the possibilities of ‘going green’. Our main message is that although every appropriate action adds up in terms of sustainability and environmentally friendly outcomes, getting a good understanding of what your organisation’s most significant environmental impacts are first before you agree what to focus on will set you on the most effective path forward.

Regardless of the industry, the organisation, or the type of project, opportunities to go green are abundant. Program and project managers should take advantage of the possibilities and embrace and encourage their implementation.

Lastly, ‘going green’ is good project management. Green initiatives not only benefit the environment, they have positive affects on employee health and wellbeing, and can help to maintain profitability of a project or organisation.