Project Initiation: Investment Analysis for Sustainable Development

Abstract

The consideration of Sustainable Development (SD) becomes more and more important for investments and the projects which implement those investments. In the project initiation process, the decision regarding the realization of an investment is made. Analyzing the investment is one of the main tasks of the project initiation process. Thus, this process is identified as most important for the integration of SD principles. The authors define SD with the following principles: economic, ecologic, and social-orientation; short, mid, and long term orientation as well as local, regional, and global-orientation. Furthermore, SD is value-based and considers values such as transparency, fairness, trust, etc. In this chapter, the authors describe the concept of responsible and ethical investment, which may also provide the basis for an investment decision within a project’s initiation. While global project and program management standards show very limited consideration of comprehensive investment analysis, the authors draw on the Logical Framework Approach used by the World Bank to see how SD principles are considered in investment analysis methods. They then propose the integration of SD principles into the discipline of project initiation. This more holistic approach considers the investment life cycle, the consideration of different stakeholders, and investment method, which explicitly integrates SD principles.