If you have had doubts about this intersection of Project Management and green that we assert, check this out.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has created a transformational document called Vision 2050. In this February 2010 report (so we’re talking brand-new) they identify something they call a critical pathway to success.  Hmmm.  I have heard that term… critical pathway…somewhere before, haven’t you?

Under the Vision 2050 project of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), 29 WBCSD member companies developed a vision of a world well on the way to sustainability by 2050, and a pathway leading to that world – a pathway that will require fundamental changes in governance structures, economic frameworks,
business and human behavior.  It emerged that these changes are necessary, feasible and offer
tremendous business opportunities for companies that turn sustainability into strategy.

The Vision 2050 project addresses three questions:

• What does a sustainable world look like?
• How can we realize it?
• What are the roles business can play in ensuring more rapid progress toward that world?

To skip to the end of the report, and we quote, “In a nutshell, that outcome would be a planet of around 9 billion people, all living well – with enough food, clean water, sanitation, shelter, mobility, education and health to make for wellness – within the limits of what this small, fragile planet can supply and renew, every day.”

Sounds good to us.  Like most project managers, we’re skeptical but interested in this whole concept of sustainability, what it means, and what we as business leaders (and make no mistake, as PMs, we are business leaders) can and should do to get to that outcome.

Oh, so on to that critical pathway.  Here it is (from the report):
• Addressing the development needs of billions of people, enabling education and economic empowerment, particularly of women, and developing radically more eco-efficient solutions, lifestyles and behavior

• Incorporating the cost of externalities, starting with carbon, ecosystem services and water

• Doubling of agricultural output without increasing the amount of land or water used

• Halting deforestation and increasing yields from planted forests

• Halving carbon emissions worldwide (based on 2005 levels) by 2050, with greenhouse gas emissions peaking around 2020 through a shift to low-carbon energy systems and highly improved demand-side energy efficiency

• Providing universal access to low carbon mobility

• Delivering a four-to-tenfold improvement in the use of resources and materials

Now, we’re not sure of all of the subtasks and dependencies, nor do they provide a full Work Breakdown Structure, detailed schedule, and/or Earned Value Technique metrics… but this does indeed illustrate the connection we’ve been discussing here at Earth PM.

To see either a summary or the entire report (no charge) in PDF format, visit these handy links:

• Main site
• Executive summary of Vision 2050 (PDF)
  
• Full report, Vision 2050 (PDF)