PMI Global Insights

By: Joel Carboni

The questions below were received during our Q&A, following the Sustainability in Project Management – The New GPM-b™ Certification session, at the Global Summit Series Africa 2025.
 
Q: How is PMI Green Certification (GPM-b™) different from existing PMI certifications such as PMP® on ESG, SDGs, safety & sustainability? 
The GPM-b™ builds on the PMP and goes deeper into the question: can you deliver that project responsibly? What does it mean in practice?  With GPM-b™, the focus is on considering sustainability from the very start of the project, not as an ‘add on’ - looking at environmental, social, and economic considerations - and being able to back that up with credible data. GPM-b™ proves you can get the project done in alignment with ESG, the SDGs, and sustainability principles. It focuses on tools like the PRiSM method, impact assessments, and sustainability management plans. It makes sustainability practical and action oriented at every stage of the project. 
 
Q: Projects represent 40% of the global GDP. Can you expand on the work PMI is doing with GPM on mainstreaming sustainability in everyday projects? 
This is about changing the DNA of project management. Sustainability can’t be treated as a side initiative or a CSR add-on anymore. With the GPM-b™, the PRiSM methodology, and the P5 Standard, PMI and GPM are giving project professionals the tools to make sustainability a default outcome. That means governance, planning, and measurement all include people, planet, and prosperity alongside scope, cost, and time. We’re aiming for a future where every project delivers value and leaves a positive legacy. 
 
Q: For those who don’t believe in climate change, what evidence supports it? 
You don’t need belief - you need to look at the data. Global average temperatures are up. Glaciers and sea ice are retreating. Oceans are warmer and expanding. Extreme weather events are hitting harder and more often. And attribution science now directly links these impacts to greenhouse gas emissions. This isn’t an ideology. It’s a measurement. 
 
Q: Sustainability is a buzzword; can you define it in the simplest and most relatable scenario? 
I’d put it this way: sustainability is doing today’s work in a way that doesn’t rob tomorrow. In projects, that means you’re not just meeting today’s requirements, but designing outcomes that create lasting environmental, social, and economic benefits. It’s not “less harm” - it’s a net-positive impact. 
 
Q: What solutions can we use to mainstream lessons from our sustainability project in primary schools and healthcare in underserved African communities? 
The key is making those lessons stick locally. That means turning success into simple playbooks, translating them into local languages, and tying them into actual budgets - for maintenance, training, and even spare parts. When communities own both the knowledge and the resources, the lessons aren’t just pilots. They become scalable practices. 
 
Q: How can those in government involved in project initiation and design ensure projects are highly sustainable? 
It starts in the brief. If sustainability isn’t in the initiation documents - clear targets for energy efficiency, water reuse, biodiversity net gain, or social inclusion - it won’t magically appear in delivery. Those requirements need to show up in tenders, contracts, and stage-gates. If it’s baked in up front, it becomes non-negotiable throughout. 
 
Q: Given the environmental risks associated with resource extraction, how can we balance the need for these resources with the pursuit of true sustainability? 
We have to minimize harm at every stage: avoid extraction when alternatives exist, reduce what we take, restore what we disturb, and only offset as a last resort. That means best available technology, strict controls, genuine community engagement, and binding restoration plans. If a business model only works by externalizing harm, it isn’t sustainable. 
 
Q: What’s the practical role of apps in sustainability? 
Apps are the accountability tools. They measure energy and water use, track waste, monitor supply chains, and feed data into ESG reports. If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Apps close that gap - they turn sustainability from aspiration into verifiable action. 
 
Q: How is selection done for professionals to be involved in sustainability projects? 
It’s not about who can talk the loudest about sustainability. It’s about proven project management skills plus sustainability competence. Credentials like the GPM-b™, sector experience, and an ethical track record matter. Projects succeed because of capable teams, not slogans. 
 
Q: What do you think about cybersecurity and sustainability? 
They’re connected. Sustainability relies on accurate, trusted data. If that data can be hacked or altered, credibility is gone. And as more infrastructure - water, energy, healthcare - becomes digital, protecting it is part of protecting communities. Without cybersecurity, sustainability outcomes are fragile. 
 
Q: How can project leaders ensure sustainability initiatives in Africa align with global ESG standards while benefiting local communities in a tangible way? 
You start with the community. Ask what their priorities are. Then map those to ESG and SDG frameworks. Build contracts that guarantee local jobs, local suppliers, and community benefits. Report globally, but be accountable locally - to the people living with the outcomes. 
 
Q: Does sustainability look the same in every country? 
The principles are the same - People, Planet, Prosperity - but the path looks different. A country struggling with water scarcity will focus differently than one battling flooding. Sustainability is always contextual. It must adapt to local realities. 
 
Q: How can we reach effective governance in sustaining sustainability? 
By making sustainability a defined responsibility. Give people roles. Put it into contracts. Use stage-gates to enforce it. Tie incentives to sustainability outcomes, not just financial ones. Governance is what keeps sustainability from being optional. 
 
Q: Is it too late to save nature from climate change - should we be proactive or reactive? 
We’re late, but not done. Being reactive costs more and delivers less. The smart play is proactive: mitigation, adaptation, and phasing out harmful practices now. Every delay raises both risk and cost. 
 
Q: What does true leadership in sustainability look like when compromise seems easier? 
It looks like holding the line when the pressure is to cave. Leadership means saying “no” when crossing impact thresholds isn’t acceptable. It’s putting long-term value ahead of short-term comfort and being transparent with stakeholders about why it matters. 
 
Q: How can PMs influence sponsors, given the conflicting interests regarding project resources and the complexity of SD requirements? 
Speak the sponsor’s language: risk reduction, cost savings, faster approvals, better financing, market advantage. Sponsors don’t fear sustainability — they fear uncertainty. If you can present clear, defensible business cases with quantified outcomes, you’ll win support. 
 
Q: Doesn’t the high cost of funding large-scale African projects with hefty risk premiums severely impact sustainability due to high interest payments? 
Yes, but there are solutions: blended finance, guarantees, local currency lending, results-based grants, carbon and biodiversity credits. Strong governance and transparent reporting reduce risk premiums over time. Sustainability becomes viable when you design projects to de-risk investment. 
 
Q: Is sustainability grounded in ethical and ecological responsibility, or is it a means to serve broader geopolitical agendas? 
It’s both. At its heart, it’s about ethics and ecology. But yes, it gets used in geopolitics too. Our role as professionals is to ground it in evidence, transparency, and community benefit. If a project doesn’t deliver on those, it shouldn’t move forward. 
 
Q: Considering the significant costs, how do we balance environmental sustainability with the potential economic burden? 
By looking at total value, not just upfront cost. Sustainable choices often pay for themselves through efficiency and durability. Sequence investments: start with no-regret actions, then financed initiatives with clear returns, then strategic moves backed by blended capital. It’s not about burden, it’s about smarter value delivery. 
 
Q: As a project manager, how do you manage value delivery when political interference takes away the benefits? 
You lock value into contracts and governance. You use public dashboards for transparency. You document every change. Independent oversight and escrow mechanisms raise the cost of interference and keep benefits visible to stakeholders. Sunlight is a strong deterrent. 
 
Q: How can we connect traditional African sustainable practices with modern certification and demonstrate long-term community impact to investors? 
By co-creating with communities. Gather and document indigenous practices like water harvesting or agroforestry, test and certify their performance, and present the results in investor terms: lower costs, greater resilience, more stable returns. Tradition plus verified data is compelling - for communities and for capital.

By: Yonela Mfeya

In Africa, every gathering focused on development, innovation, or progress carries weight far beyond its agenda. For many of us, forums like the PMI Global Summit Series Africa (GSSA) are more than just opportunities to network; they are vital spaces for learning, convening, and collective problem-solving.

I’ve been reflecting on the role conferences play in environments where challenges are not theoretical. In much of Africa, we are living the realities others only write about. We know what underfunded sectors look like. We know what it means to face a deep talent shortage while carrying the promise of the youngest population on the planet. We are acutely aware of the infrastructural gaps, digital divides, and policy lags. These aren’t abstract statistics - they are our daily hurdles. And if that weren’t enough, we wake up each day navigating shifting policies and shrinking aid - realities that demand relentless resilience from the project managers building against the odds.

I’ve just returned from China, where talent development is treated as a national priority and embedded into every layer of economic planning. This was a striking reminder that if Africa is to rise, we cannot leave talent to chance. We must be just as deliberate.

That’s why platforms like the Global Summit Series Africa matter. They offer more than dialogue; they offer direction. Dialogue, even without easy answers, is a form of action. While we may not have the luxury of historic institutions or vast resources, we have something many parts of the world are struggling to rekindle - urgency, powered by community.

That same paradox applies to our development story. We didn’t create the systems shaping the global economy, but we’re expected to catch up, compete, and innovate all at once - with less. Which is why we can’t afford to wait for perfect conditions. Our path forward demands resourcefulness, collaboration, and spaces that challenge us to think beyond limitations. 

And so, the Global Summit Series Africa takes on a different meaning. It’s not a luxury. It’s a strategic imperative. In a landscape that demands innovation under pressure, GSSA becomes a space to reimagine how we lead, build, and leap forward. It’s where policymakers, corporate leaders, and the next generation of project managers come together to learn, unlearn, and lead. Sessions will tackle Africa’s persistent skills crisis, explore how to fund major infrastructure when international aid dries up, and examine how private capital can step in more meaningfully. 

Personally, I attend events like this because I want to stay hopeful, but not blindly so. I want to hear from voices across the continent who, like me, are tired of the overplayed “potential” narrative. Potential without execution is exhausting. That’s why I’ve come to see the Summit as our best opportunity to convert intention into coordinated action. When institutions like the African Development Bank show up, it signals more than interest; it signals alignment, influence, and the possibility of scale. 

In other parts of the world, learning is distributed across systems: universities, think tanks, innovation hubs. In our context, a three-day gathering like GSSA might be the only time a government advisor meets a start-up founder, or a university lecturer debates a corporate executive. That proximity, across borders, languages, and sectors, is powerful. It creates the kind of learning textbooks cannot replicate.

Yes, we face inequities like talent gaps, funding shortfalls, and structural inertia. But as a project manager, my response is not despair. It is determination. That’s why the GSSA matters to me. If you are truly invested in building Africa, then your seat is at this table. 
 

By: Laura Lazzerini, PMP & Yasmina Khelifi, PMP, PMI-ACP, PMI-PBA

In April, we presented at the PMI Global Summit Series Europe 2025 event held in Barcelona. This was a great event with featured speakers, exhibits, and networking activities. Our presentation, Women in Project Management: Breaking the Glass Ceiling, focused on the roadblocks women may face and strategies to overcome them.

These strategies are based on studies and research. We are lucky because we work in environments that help us move forward, and yet, many things need to be improved. Each of us can become a better ally to women project leaders from mentoring to advocating.

During our presentation, we received a lot of great questions that we didn’t get a chance to cover, and my responses are below.

Question: In my country, 50% of the PMs in companies are women and they are treated with the same respect as men. Why were these more positive things not mentioned?

Answer: We could not cover all world regions, so we gave the example of Europe. It’s certainly the case that there could be situations with higher percentages than we discussed and others with lower percentages. Yasmina has worked with more women project leaders in Africa and Asia than in Europe, and Laura has worked with women project leaders in Europe and outside Europe.

With regard to respect: we work in male-dominated environments that foster gender balanced roles, and we are treated with the same respect as men, even if, as women project leaders, we are in the minority. Being in the minority does not mean we are not treated with respect.

Q: Don’t you think that dwelling on negative experiences and challenging situations encourages a ‘victim mentality’ among women?

A: From our point of view, sharing our experiences and challenges as women project leaders does not portray women as victims. We both enjoy being women project leaders. But talking about our challenges is a way to share solutions and strategies and to encourage other women by saying: ‘You may face challenges, but you can overcome them.’

This kind of discussion may bring added value to women who are facing certain situations for the first time, so that they will be aware that they are not the only ones in this situation and that it’s possible to find solutions.

Q: Do you think that, to be successful as a woman project leader, you should behave like a man?

A: We don’t fully agree with this. We don’t need to pretend we are something we’re not when we enter the workplace. Laura’s view is that we need to change the culture so that women's behavior and way of working are accepted in the same way as men's. If we change our behavior to simulate that of men, we may lose our authenticity.

Yasmina’s view is that we each have our own personality, and we need to develop work environments where we can express ourselves fully.

We had a great time presenting, and the full presentation will be on demand through 30 January 2026. Visit the Global Summit Series Europe 2025 site for more details.