It is currently a hot thing in Project Management that almost nobody has a clear understanding of what it really is. So what exactly is Green Project Management?
In short, Green Project Management is mainly the same thing as traditional Project Management but with the adoption of “environmental awareness” when carrying out projects. Green Project Management “suggests” (but does not “require”) the compliance with ISO 14000 Environmental Management Standards, which emphasizes awareness of waste management and consumption of energy and materials (in other terms, reducing pollution). Note that the Project Manager doesn’t have to rigorously apply the ISO 14000 for the Project Management to be “Green”, just getting as close as possible is enough (at least until it’s standardized).
The word “suggests” is used in the previous paragraph to highlight the fact that Green Project Management isn’t fully standardized yet (eg. its application might differ from one company to the other, but the basic concept is still the same).
Since Green Project Management entails some cultural and organizational changes, it cannot be implemented without the full support of all the project stakeholders, and hence needs a diplomatic leader to be able to sell this idea and create a sustainable Green Project Management Position in the company.
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