Use this page as your “best answer” compass: impacts first, measurable objectives second, and governance/monitoring always.
Fast definitions (exam-friendly)
- Sustainability: meeting today’s needs without undermining future capacity (economic, environmental, social).
- Triple bottom line: people + planet + prosperity (don’t optimize one dimension blindly).
- ESG: a reporting/risk lens (environment, social, governance) often used by organizations and investors.
- Materiality: what matters enough to change decisions (to stakeholders and to the organization).
- P5: a way to structure thinking about People, Planet, Prosperity impacts plus Product and Process impacts.
P5 impact analysis (simple workflow)
- Set boundaries: what’s in/out, lifecycle stage, geography, suppliers.
- List stakeholders: who is affected and who can influence outcomes.
- Identify impacts: positives/negatives across P5.
- Prioritize: materiality, magnitude, likelihood, controllability.
- Plan actions: mitigate harms, enhance benefits, assign owners.
- Make it measurable: objectives → KPIs → acceptance criteria → reporting cadence.
Sustainability objective checklist
An objective is credible when it has:
- A baseline (where you start)
- A target (where you’re going)
- A time horizon
- A measurement method (data source + frequency + owner)
- A tolerance (what drift triggers escalation)
Sustainable delivery by phase (what to remember)
Initiate
- Put sustainability constraints into the business case and charter (not a side document).
- Identify stakeholders who can validate impacts (SMEs, operations, procurement, compliance).
Plan
- Bake sustainability into scope/acceptance criteria, procurement criteria, quality standards, and risk responses.
- Budget and schedule time for assessment, mitigation, training, and reporting.
Execute
- Monitor suppliers against sustainability criteria and collect evidence.
- Treat sustainability deviations like quality issues: log, analyze cause, correct, prevent recurrence.
Monitor & control
- Track sustainability KPIs at the same cadence as cost and schedule.
- Run change control with an “impact lens” before approving scope or design changes.
Close
- Verify sustainability acceptance criteria, finalize evidence, and ensure operations can sustain outcomes.
Anti-greenwashing prompts (quick)
- “What evidence supports this claim?”
- “What metric proves it, and who owns that measurement?”
- “What would make an auditor disagree?”
- “Are we shifting harm upstream/downstream (suppliers, disposal, operations)?”