Procept Associates Ltd. announced today that it is now supporting the GPM Alliance for Sustainability in Project Management.

The GPM Sustainability Alliance is a platform for project management organizations, associations, communities of practice, and other groups to pledge their support to advance sustainability in project management. This green project management initiative is a member of the UN Global Compact who has put in place a policy framework for the development, implementation and disclosure of sustainability principles and practices, related human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption. The U.N. officially launched their sustainable development goals on 25 September 2015. The GPM Sustainability Alliance applies this UN framework within a project management context. More details on this initiative are available at http://www.greenprojectmanagement.org/affiliated-organizations/support-sustainability-in-project-management

In support of the UN Global Compact, we support the following ten principles:

  • Human Rights (The Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
    • Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and
    • Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.
  • Labour (The International Labour Organization's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work)
    • Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
    • Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour;
    • Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labour; and
    • Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
  • Environment (The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development)
    • Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;
    • Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and
    • Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.
  • Anti-Corruption (The United Nations Convention Against Corruption)
    • Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.

Sustainability is now included in IPMA's International Competence Baseline v4, released in early October 2015.  PMI's PMBoK Guide only mentions sustainability vaguely in one place in the book, but expectations are that the next edition will have a more pronounced treatment of sustainability. 

Procept will be incorporating sustainability materials into our project management training in early 2016.