Sustainability Impact Assessment on the project level; A review of available instruments

Concerns about sustainability drive organizations to assume responsibility for societal impacts. Reducing negative impacts requires organizational change, in which projects play an instrumental role. Considering sustainability in project management is an important project management trend today, and requires instruments to assess the sustainability of a project. Several instruments have been published for this, with most of them having limited impact. This study reports the review of three selected sustainability impact assessment instruments. It was found that all three instruments assessed the sustainability impact of a project on multiple levels, and based on a holistic set of criteria. The instruments however differed in the specificity of their assessment and their adaptability to the project’s context. The instruments were found to be light on their description of the assessment process. The contribution the study makes is that it provides insight into practically applicable instruments for the consideration of sustainability in project management.