What it is
Evidence collected where the outcomes happen
6
PRiSM phases
10+
sector modules
3
maturity levels
Free
always
Sustainability strategy is executed through projects. When those projects do not generate disclosure-ready data, the reports that follow describe intentions rather than results. The Project Sustainability Reporting Guide closes that gap. It takes the six phases of the PRiSM method and specifies, for each one, what the project manager does, what the team does, what goes into the Sustainability Management Plan, and which GRI, ISSB, TCFD or EU disclosure that output satisfies.
The mechanism is the plan itself, the document GPM introduced in 2009 that grows through every phase. By Closure it holds the impact register, the material topics and their commitments, the monitoring record and the verified results. By Post-Project Benefits Realization it holds the outcomes measured against baseline and target. Nothing has to be reconstructed for the annual report, because the evidence was recorded when the decisions were made.
Organizations rarely have a sustainability problem. They have a project problem. The data a credible report needs is already being generated in projects; the guide shows how to capture it and connect it to the disclosures the organization is required to make.
Phase by phase
Six outputs, each a project tool and a disclosure artifact
| Phase | Output | What it does | Disclosure it feeds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Pre-Project | Preliminary impact screening | Identifies early risks and opportunities before authorization. | First evidence base for GRI 3-1. |
| 02 Discovery | Impact register and materiality matrix | Baseline data, stakeholder engagement and the materiality test, scoring impacts by stakeholder significance and financial relevance. | GRI 3-2. |
| 03 Design | Material topics management table | Translates material issues into commitments, targets, KPIs and named accountabilities. | The commitments later reported under GRI 3-3. |
| 04 Delivery | Implementation and monitoring section | Tracks performance against commitments, flags deviations, updates dashboards. | GRI 3-3. |
| 05 Closure | Verification checklist | Confirms each material topic against its commitment with attached evidence: certificates, regulator approvals, community validation, audit reports. | Assurance-ready evidence. |
| 06 Post-Project | Benefits tracker | Compares baseline, target and actual at six to twelve months. | GRI 201, 305, 413 and biodiversity disclosures. |
What is inside
Materiality that holds up to audit, and a path to regenerative practice
Materiality
Double materiality, operationalized
Impact materiality (how the project affects the world) and financial materiality (how the world affects the project), with the scored materiality test, the Project Materiality Matrix and the linkage to GRI 3-1, 3-2 and 3-3.
Maturity
Three levels of practice
Level 1, incremental improvement. Level 2, context-based thresholds and the Sustainability Quotient. Level 3, regenerative practice with multi-capital return and stakeholder co-governance. Projects start where they are.
Sectors
Modules for more than ten industries
Construction, energy, mining, healthcare, IT, transport, manufacturing, public sector, financial services and digital transformation including AI, each with hotspots, lifecycle guidance and mapping tables.
Tools
Ready to use
The Impact Register, Material Topics Management Table, Implementation and Monitoring Section, Verification Checklist, Benefits Tracker, EU Taxonomy evidence table and the agile integration guidance.
Agile and hybrid delivery
The agile add-in turns impacts from the P5 Impact Analysis into backlog items and acceptance criteria. KPIs update each sprint, and the plan evolves with the deliverables inside Jira, Azure DevOps or Trello. No separate system is needed, and the disclosure mapping is the same.
Frameworks
The reporting languages project evidence has to speak
| Framework | What the guide maps to it |
|---|---|
| GRI Standards 2021 | Material topics (GRI 3), economic performance (201), emissions (305), local communities (413) and biodiversity, phase by phase. |
| ISSB IFRS S1 and S2 | Sustainability-related and climate-related financial disclosures fed by project-level risk and impact data. |
| EU CSRD and CSDDD | Double materiality evidence and due-diligence records along the project supply chain. |
| EU Taxonomy | An evidence table for taxonomy-aligned activities delivered through projects. |
| UN SDGs and KM-GBF | Contribution to the 17 Goals and to biodiversity targets, from the P5 element mappings. |
In the ecosystem
Where it sits among GPM's publications
The interactive ecosystem map shows the Reporting Guide as the reporting line: it leaves the Sustainability Management Plan, crosses the disclosure boundary and arrives at the organization's GRI, ISSB and SDG reports. Choose a station below to light it up on the map.
The reporting lineThe planThe disclosure boundaryReporting frameworksImpact registerMaterial topics tableVerification checklistBenefits trackerThe feedback loop
Click a line to follow one publication; click any station for its definition. The full-size map is on the ecosystem page.
Getting started
Download, pick one project, report what it actually did
Download the guide. It is free, and it assumes the P5 Standard and the Practice Guide, which are also free.
Pick one project that will appear in this year's report. Open its plan, run the materiality test and map its outputs to the disclosures your organization already makes. The gap between what the project can evidence and what the report claims is the finding.
Give the organization a view. PSM3 measures how far project-level evidence reaches organizational disclosure across a portfolio, and GPM's consulting practice builds the bridge where it is missing.
Questions
Frequently asked
What is the Project Sustainability Reporting Guide?
A free PMI-GPM publication that connects each phase of a project to the disclosures an organization makes under GRI, ISSB, CSRD, CSDDD, the EU Taxonomy and the SDGs. It shows what the project manager and the team do at each of the six PRiSM phases, what goes into the Sustainability Management Plan, and which disclosure each output satisfies.
Why does reporting need a project-level guide?
Organizational reports draw on energy bills, supplier surveys, HR systems and financial accounts. They rarely draw on the projects that produce environmental and social outcomes, so when an auditor asks for the evidence behind a number it often was never collected at the point of delivery. The guide fixes that by making the evidence a by-product of running the project.
What is double materiality, and how does the guide handle it?
Impact materiality asks how the project affects people and the environment; financial materiality asks how external conditions affect the project. The guide operationalizes both with a scored materiality test and a Project Materiality Matrix, linked to GRI 3-1, 3-2 and 3-3.
What are the three levels?
Level 1 is incremental improvement against the project's own baseline. Level 2 is context-based, where impacts are assessed against thresholds and a Sustainability Quotient. Level 3 is regenerative, with multi-capital return and stakeholder co-governance. Projects start where they are and advance without skipping steps.
Does it cover my industry?
Sector modules cover more than ten industries, each with materiality hotspots, lifecycle recommendations and disclosure mapping tables: construction, energy, mining, healthcare, IT, transport, manufacturing, the public sector, financial services and digital transformation including AI.
Does it work with agile delivery?
Yes. An agile add-in turns P5 impacts into backlog items and acceptance criteria, updates KPIs each sprint and keeps the plan current inside Jira, Azure DevOps or Trello without a separate system.
How much does it cost?
Nothing. The guide is a free PDF from GPM, with the P5 Standard, the Practice Guide and the two templates it relies on.
Author
Dr. Joel Carboni is the founder and president of GPM and the architect of the standards, methods, and certifications behind Sustainable Project Management®, delivered through the PMI-GPM joint venture. He created the P5 Standard, the Sustainability Competence Standard, the Sustainable Project Management® Practice Guide, the Project Sustainability Reporting Guide and the PMI GPM Guide to Responsible Project Sponsorship. For over 30 years, his work has moved the profession in a different direction. A Forbes Business Council member and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) contributor, he was shortlisted for Thinkers50's inaugural regenerative business award in 2025 for his book Becoming Regenerative.
Published 5 September 2026. Corrections through the contact page.
GPM®, Green Project Management® and Sustainable Project Management® are registered trademarks of GPM Ltd. PRiSM™, P5™, CSPP™, CSPMs™, CSPMx™, CSP™, CSF™, GPM360°™ and PSM3™ are trademarks of GPM Global and, where applicable, PMI-GPM. PMI and PMBOK are registered marks of the Project Management Institute.
Also on this site
The Sustainability Management Plan: the document the guide reports from. The P5 Standard: the impact elements and their framework mappings. The Practice Guide: the method that produces the evidence.