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

Paul Mansell,Tim Broyd,Simon P Philbin

doi:10.3390/su12166413

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.

Highlights

The construction industry has a major role in achieving a measurable impact against the sustainable development goals (SDG) 2030 targets
The study used the “golden thread” of the TBL thematic areas to interrogate whether one of the UK’s leading water utility companies, Anglian Water, was already delivering strategic sustainable development solutions that could be mapped to SDG targets
The research was conducted in the UK, the findings have possible broader applicability to other countries since most of the issues are neither culturally nor geographically specific. This is a valuable area of future research that could potentially engage with a number of construction firms with global footprints to compare the differences and similarities of measuring SDGs across and within different regional areas

Summary

Introduction

The construction industry has a major role in achieving a measurable impact against the sustainable development goals (SDG) 2030 targets. The linking of infrastructure project success to SDG targets is problematic as a recent Institution of Civil Engineers’ survey [2,3] demonstrated: while the appetite for SDG reporting at project level is very strong (87%), especially among millennials, only a third of the 325 survey respondents assessed current tools as “fit for purpose”. The research study identified four critical success factors (CSF) for measuring projects’ SDG impacts:. Clear understanding of project success: is it about time, cost and scope (doing the projects right) or is it about outcomes and strategic impacts (doing the right projects) or a balance of both?. The need for tools that could measure traditional outputs of time, cost and scope as well as more opaque successes, such as outcomes, benefits and impacts

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Conclusion