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Green Project Terminology: The Language of the Green Wave • 19

zero emission is achieved, there is no need to continue to purchase offsets.
When choosing a company from which to purchase offsets, look for one
with longevity and a good track record from investors.

The Project Management Institute is the leading global association for
the project management profession. Since its founding in 1969, it has
been at the forefront of working with business to create project manage-
ment standards and techniques that work in all project environments.

PMI defines sustainability. We wanted to know how PMI defines
sustainability, so we went to the latest (2009) edition of the Combined
2
Standards Glossary (4th ed.) and found this definition: “sustainability: a
characteristic of a process or state that can be maintained indefinitely.”
We think that definition does not carry with it the more balanced, more
earthly view. It’s accurate, perhaps only because it’s so bland and flat. So
what else is there in the way of defining sustainability?
It is all about balance. We agree with the definition but there is much
more to it. Sustainability is a balance that allows for our continued exis-
tence. The most widely quoted definition internationally is the “Brundtland
definition” of the 1987 Report of the World Commission on Environment
and Development—that sustainability means “meeting the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs.”
We spoke at length about a project management definition of sustain-
ability with educator Gilbert Silvius, professor at Utrecht University of
Applied Sciences. Gilbert is the initiator of that school’s Master of Project
Management program—the first accredited Master of Project Management
in the Netherlands (see Figure 2.1).
“Although some aspects of sustainability are found in the various stan-
dards of project management,” he said, “it has to be concluded that the
impact of sustainability is not really recognized yet. The way projects are
managed, measured, and reported doesn’t reflect the different aspects of
sustainability that can be derived from the concepts of sustainable devel-
opment.” Gilbert went on to say, “It is clear that a lot of work still has to
be done on the implications of sustainable project management and that
there is a growing need for expertise, criteria, and concepts to practically
implement the concept in the management of projects.”