Sustainability in project management practice: a literature review

The intersection between sustainability and project management has received significant attention in literature. Organizations have come to acknowledge the importance of incorporating sustainable practices in their business operations, particularly through their projects. However, integrating sustainability concerns poses challenges, that require the development of methods, tools, and techniques to assess sustainability at the project level. To assist project managers in this endeavor, a comprehensive literature review was conducted. The review aims to answer two main questions: (1) What motivates project managers and their teams to incorporate sustainability in project management practice? (2) Which key project management practices and frameworks/models can be used to ensure sustainability in projects? The findings of this review provide valuable insights for project managers seeking to integrate sustainability practices throughout the entire project management life cycle.This research is sponsored by national funds through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support through national funds FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) to CEMMPRE (UIDB/00285/2020), ARISE (LA/P/0112/2020), CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020 and UIDP/00690/2020), and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2021).