GRI   ISSB
The Project Sustainability Reporting Guide

PMI-GPM Sustainability Joint Venture

The Project Sustainability
Reporting Guide

The bridge between project delivery and enterprise sustainability disclosure. Connects every phase of the project lifecycle to GRI, ISSB, CSRD, CSDDD, EU Taxonomy, and SDG reporting through a single living document: the Sustainability Management Plan.

6

Lifecycle Phases

10+

Industry Modules

Free

Always

Free PDF — pop-ups must be enabled — form below

Mapped to every major disclosure framework

GRI

2021

ISSB

IFRS S1/S2

EU CSRD

CSDDD

UN SDGs

17 Goals

KM-GBF

Biodiversity

Organizations don’t have a sustainability problem. They have a project problem. Sustainability strategy is executed through projects. If those projects don’t generate disclosure-ready data, the reports that follow are incomplete at best and unverifiable at worst.

Most sustainability reports describe what an organization intends to do. What they rarely contain is verified evidence of what actually happened — because that evidence lives in projects, and almost no one has built the bridge between project delivery and disclosure.

The mechanism is the Sustainability Management Plan (SMP) — a living document introduced by GPM in 2009 that evolves through every phase of the project lifecycle. By the time a project closes, the SMP contains everything needed for project-level materiality assessment and connects directly to organizational disclosures. This guide shows exactly how to build it, phase by phase.

What’s Inside

A Phase-by-Phase Framework

Precise guidance on what the project manager does, what the team does, and what goes into the SMP at each of the six PRiSM™ lifecycle phases — from Preliminary Impact Screening in Pre-Project through the Benefits Tracker in Post-Project Benefits Realization.

Materiality That Holds Up to Audit

Double materiality operationalized — both how the project affects the world (impact materiality) and how external conditions affect the project (financial materiality). Includes the materiality test scoring methodology, the Project Materiality Matrix, and linkage to GRI 3–1, 3–2, and 3–3 requirements.

Context-Based Sustainability

A three-level maturity framework: Level 1 (incremental improvement) through Level 2 (context-based threshold assessment, Sustainability Quotient) to Level 3 (regenerative practice, Multi-Capital ROI, stakeholder co-governance). Projects start where they are and advance without premature leaps.

Sector-Specific Modules

Detailed guidance for over ten industries, each with materiality hotspots, lifecycle-specific recommendations, and disclosure mapping tables: construction, energy, mining, healthcare, IT, transport, manufacturing, public sector, financial services, and digital transformation including AI.

Ready-to-Use Tools

The Impact Register, Material Topics Management Table, Implementation & Monitoring Section, Verification Checklist, Benefits Tracker, EU Taxonomy evidence table, and Agile SMP integration guidance — all structured to produce disclosure-ready outputs without duplication of effort.

The Six-Phase Project Lifecycle

The SMP is not a report produced at project close. It is a living document that grows through every PRiSM™ phase, with each phase adding a specific output that is both a project management tool and a disclosure-ready artifact.

01 — Pre-Project

Preliminary Impact Screening

Identify early risks and opportunities before authorization. First evidence base for GRI 3–1.

02 — Discovery

Impact Register & Materiality Matrix

Collect baseline data, engage stakeholders, apply the materiality test. Scores impacts by stakeholder significance and financial relevance. Satisfies GRI 3–2.

03 — Design

Material Topics Management Table

Translate material issues into commitments, targets, KPIs, and named accountabilities.

04 — Delivery

Implementation & Monitoring Section

Track real-time performance against commitments. Flag deviations. Update dashboards. Satisfies GRI 3–3.

05 — Closure

Verification Checklist

Confirm each material topic against its commitment with attached evidence: certificates, regulator approvals, community validation, audit reports.

06 — Post-Project

Benefits Tracker

Compare baseline → target → actual at 6–12 months post-delivery. Feeds GRI 201, 305, 413, and biodiversity disclosures.

Works in Agile and Hybrid Environments

The guide includes a dedicated Agile add-in. Sustainability impacts from the P5 Impact Analysis become backlog items and acceptance criteria. KPIs update each sprint. The SMP evolves incrementally alongside the deliverables and integrates with standard Agile tooling — Jira, Azure DevOps, Trello — without requiring a separate system.

The Structural Gap This Solves

Sustainability reporting has a data quality problem. Organizational-level reports draw from energy bills, supplier surveys, HR systems, and financial accounts — but rarely from the projects that actually drive environmental and social outcomes. When auditors ask for evidence behind the numbers, organizations struggle to produce it because the evidence was never systematically collected at the point of delivery.

Auditable evidence at the project level, not organizational averages.
Material topics identified, scored, committed to, tracked, verified, and reported through a single living document.
Disclosure mapping tables that connect every SMP section to the specific GRI, ISSB, TCFD, and EU framework articles it satisfies.
A maturity pathway that meets organizations where they are and provides a clear route toward context-based and regenerative practice.

The data needed to complete a credible sustainability report is already being generated in your projects. This guide shows you how to capture it systematically and connect it to the disclosures your organization is required to make.

Download the Guide

The Project Sustainability Reporting Guide is available as a free PDF. Complete the form below to receive your copy. Pop-ups must be enabled.

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