New governance approaches for sustainable project delivery

Studies show that many infrastructure projects have problems to deliver sustainability commitments made earlier in the planning process. One problem is that many decisions influencing project design and environmental performance are made after the (formal) planning process and consent decision. Also, many parties are involved in project delivery and there is lack of information transfer (follow-up) from planning stages to construction and implementation. In addition, the effectiveness of project studies has been questioned (i.e. do project studies delivering their outcomes?). In international practice various approaches are adopted to overcome these problems. One approach is to move towards more collaborative relationships between various parties (governmental, private and public). Also, authorities and companies increasingly use procurement and contracting as an environmental policy instrument to further the environmental performance of projects (green procurement). Furthermore, new tools for securing sustainability commitments are increasingly used in infrastructure design and construction (e.g. rating tools such as CEEQUAL, BREEAM, LEED). The various approaches have developed independently but nevertheless seem to head in the same direction i.e. achieving more environmental sustainable outcomes of (infrastructure) projects. An important challenge is how these approaches can be combined to reinforce each other for more sustainable project delivery. Various relationships can be developed between the different 'tracks' of impact assessment, green procurement and partnering contracts in order to come to a more integrated approach. This paper aims at discussing and comparing different approaches for delivering sustainability in infrastructure projects. By integrating green procurement, partnering and sustainability declaration, an integrated approach could be developed in order to safeguard sustainable performance beyond the formal decision-making phase of infrastructure projects. This integrated approach would enable transfer of information, communication, learning from experience and adaptive environmental management. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of the Programme Committee of the Transport Research Arena 2012