Development of a New Business Model to Measure Organizational and Project-Level SDG Impact—Case Study of a Water Utility Company

Abstract

Achievement of the United Nations’ 2030 Global Goals for Sustainability is of paramount importance. However, for engineers and project managers to take meaningful action, they need the practical tools, processes and leadership to turn grand rhetoric into viable engineering solutions. Linking infrastructure project sustainability performance to sustainable development goals (SDG) targets is problematic. This article builds on the previous development of an innovative infrastructure business model, called the “Infrastructure SDG Impact-Value Chain” (IVC) to link local-level project delivery with global-level SDG impacts. It uses a case study of a water utility company to demonstrate how the IVC business model can integrate the “triple bottom line” to ensure the balanced definition of success across economic, environmental and social thematic areas. The results led to a proposed methodology for business leaders to align stakeholders on a common definition of project success during the design phase. The study includes the selection of longer-term outcomes and strategic SDG impacts, which, it is suggested, are improved definitions of project success. Although the findings that are from a single case study cannot automatically be extended to the entire water industry, the study’s methodology has potential to be used to evaluate multiple projects across different sectors. The practical application is significant since it offers the flexibility to be used at both project and portfolio levels, thereby linking tactical delivery to organisational SDG impacts and leading to improved investment decisions with increased likelihood of success in achieving the SDG 2030 targets.

Organizations' engagement with sustainable development goals: Fromcherry‐pickingto SDG‐washing?

“…In the second group of studies, a number of recent works have focused on the organizational level to analyze the engagement with SDGs. Van Zanten and Van Tulder (2018) conducted a survey of 81 large MNCs from Europe and North America, and found that companies are more likely to engage with SDG targets relevant to their own value chain operations, and with targets that “avoid harm” rather than “do good.” Other scattered works analyzed indirectly organizational engagement with SDGs through limited case‐studies (e.g., Battaglia et al, 2020; Mansell et al, 2020; Vildåsen, 2018). For example, Battaglia et al (2020) analyzed the operational dimensions of the SDGs for the case of a large Italian energy company.…”

Delivering UN Sustainable Development Goals’ Impact on Infrastructure Projects: An Empirical Study of Senior Executives in the UK Construction Sector

“…The research presented later shows this cannot currently be achieved, and the evidence [16,17] illustrates that the golden thread from project measurement to national/global level is missing. There is a gap between theory and practice [11,13]. The most significant global response to the planetary boundary challenge was in 2015, when all governments ratified the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals [4] (as shown in Figure 1), to be achieved by 2030 (with 169 targets and 244 indicators also agreed in 2017).…”

“…The research presented later shows this cannot currently be achieved, and the evidence [16,17] illustrates that the golden thread from project measurement to national/global level is missing. There is a gap between theory and practice [11,13]. In order to understand why there is a perceived gap, it is helpful to analyse the structural build of the SDG performance framework.…”

“…There is a continuing need to understand how sustainability and, specifically, performance against the SDGs can be measured for infrastructure projects from the construction sector. Recent research [11][12][13][14] has indicated that linking infrastructure project success to SDG targets is problematic. Also, evidence has indicated that, at the project manager level, whilst the appetite for action is very strong, especially by millennials [14], there do not appear to be the tools, methods, leadership or business-society-environment framework to carry out meaningful measurement of SDG success at project level.…”

Urban Vegetation Leveraging Actions

“…They are part of the UN Resolution popularly known as "Agenda 2030". Research directions on this topic include responses to climate change [22][23][24][25], social equity, education and health [26][27][28][29][30][31], urban sustainability [32][33][34][35], sustainable business [36][37][38][39][40] and policy design, implementation and evaluation [41][42][43][44][45]. It is widely understood that the SDGs are closely interdependent and that their successful pursuit requires integration across most policy areas.…”