4 Sustainability Layers Every Modern Project Leader Must Consider
Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez is a leading expert in project management and strategy implementation, recognized by Thinkers50 with the prestigious award “Ideas into Practice.” He is the creator of concepts like The Project Economy and the Project Manifesto. He is author of Lead Successful Projects (2019, Penguin) The Project Revolution (2019, LID) and The Focused Organization (2012 Gower). He has been teaching project management for more than a decade to senior executives at Duke CE, Skolkovo, Solvay Business School, and Vlerick. Antonio has held executive PMO positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers, BNP Paribas, and GlaxoSmithKline. Former Chairman of the Project Management Institute, he is the co-founder of the Strategy Implementation Institute and the global movement Brightline.
Throughout my career as a project manager—and through years of teaching and mentoring thousands of professionals across industries—I’ve come to a profound realization: We have far more power than we think.
Project managers often see themselves as executors—those who translate strategy into tasks, who manage resources, timelines and risks. And yes, we do that. But we also sit at a powerful junction: where choices are made, where systems are shaped, and where values are either embedded or ignored.
In a world facing unprecedented environmental and social pressure, this power is not just a professional opportunity—it’s a responsibility.
Sustainability is no longer a side concern. It’s core to resilience, stakeholder trust, cost management, and long-term success.
And yet, too often, it is treated as an afterthought in project planning—bolted on instead of baked in.
This article introduces a four-layer framework for embedding sustainability directly into the fabric of project delivery—from the earliest proposal through to closure and beyond. Each layer adds technical rigor and strategic clarity.
Collectively, they represent a roadmap to deliver projects that align with the demands of the 21st century.
Layer 1: Align Every Project with the UN Sustainable Development Goals
The first step is framing. Projects …
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