Sustainability in engineering, procurement and supply project : a case study of mining technology provider

Abstract

Sustainability in a project is seen as a source of innovation and new opportunities which creates competitive advantages for organizations. It can lead to cost saving by waste reduction, improving resource efficiency, and avoiding penalties related to environmental regulations. The thesis aims to improve the sustainability in EPS (Engineering, Procurement, Supply) projects of case company by identifying the current state and defining the sets of sustainability indicators for these projects to track the progress. This research can be divided into three main parts. First part of the research identifies the current state of project sustainability implementation, sustainability goals, and used indicators in case company using company website and intranet resource. In second part, a set of sustainability indicators for project are identified through combination of literature review and expert interviews. Identified indicators are used to assess the sustainability in three EPS projects for the final part of the research. The research found a strong sense of awareness on the sustainability topics among the EPS project stakeholders in the case company. 11 sustainability indicators are identified for project sustainability assessment where 7 indicators are tailor made indicators and 4 indicators are from GRI standards. Supply chain management (SCM) is identified as the key influencer influencing 9 indicators in EPS project sustainability. Lack of data is identified as the biggest challenge to implement sustainability in project. Emission associated with raw materials contributed to more than 80% of calculated project emission. Use of low emission material had substantial impact on the reduction of EPC project emission. Limiting the need for project travel and use of air freight is seen as both economically and environmentally sustainable choice.