PMI research reveals sustainability execution gap

Project Management Institute (PMI) and Green Project Management released a research report titled 'Executing Sustainability Strategy: When Ambition Meets Reality', based on a survey of nearly 1,600 professionals across 35 countries. The report reveals a significant gap between sustainability ambition and execution: while 85% of sustainability executives believe their organizations will achieve their sustainability goals, only 43% of PMO leaders and just 20% of project professionals are extremely confident in delivery. Only 41% of respondents say sustainability is fully integrated into projects and daily operations, and 59% of organizations have not fully integrated sustainability into project delivery. The report identifies six recurring barriers to execution and highlights that sustainability is the strongest predictor of project success. For Sub-Saharan Africa, the execution gap threatens access to international development finance, ESG-linked investment, and climate funding. To address this, PMI and GPM launched the Certified Sustainable Project Professional (CSPP) certification, built around the P5 Standard for Sustainability in Project Management and aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.