Experience
Joel Carboni, Ph.D.
Architect of the standards, methods and certifications behind Sustainable Project Management®. The work began on a county permitting program in Indiana, became the P5 Standard, and is now the sustainability ecosystem of the Project Management Institute, delivered through the PMI-GPM joint venture.
Founder and President of GPM since 2009, board member of the PMI-GPM Joint Venture since 2025, and visiting professor at SKEMA Business School since 2016. Over 25 years in portfolio, program and project management across government, finance, consulting, manufacturing and higher education, and 30 years in sustainability. Based in the Detroit, Michigan area; works globally.
GPM was founded because sustainability kept being handled as a side conversation instead of as part of how projects get selected, governed and delivered. The years before it were spent inside the systems that produce that result: consulting at Accenture, security delivery for banking and manufacturing clients in Chicago, and local government in Indiana.
1,000,000+
downloads of the P5 Standard, Version 1 through Version 4.0
7
standards, methods and guides authored
200+
published articles and research papers
30
years working in sustainability
Publications are listed in full on the Writing page. Approved bios and cleared headshots for event use are on the press page.
What the work produced
Four layers, each with its own documents. The impact structure sets what a project is assessed against. Delivery and governance set who decides and at what point. The competence standard sets what a person has to be able to do. The reporting guide sets how results are stated to an outside reader. They were built to work together and to be used separately.
Impact structure
P5 Standard for Sustainability in Project Management · Version 1 (2011) to Version 4.0 (2026)
Sets the impact areas a project is assessed against, across people, planet, prosperity, process and product. More than 1,000,000 downloads. A PMI-GPM publication.
GPM P5 Standard for Sustainability in Business Practice · Version 1.1 (2024)
Applies the same impact structure to how an organization operates rather than to a single project.
Delivery and governance
PRiSM™ delivery method
Places sustainability decisions inside the project lifecycle, at the points where scope, budget and design are settled.
The Sustainability Management Plan
The project document that records sustainability commitments, their owners and their thresholds. First developed on the Allen County program described below.
Practice Guide for Sustainability in Project Management · Fourth Edition (2026) · lead author
How the standard is applied on live projects. A PMI-GPM publication.
PMI GPM Guide to Responsible Project Sponsorship (2026) · author
What a project sponsor is accountable for, and what a sponsor cannot hand to someone else. A PMI-GPM publication.
Competence
GPM Sustainability Competence Standard · Version 2.1 (2025)
Sets the threshold competence a person has to demonstrate to lead sustainability work, and what assessment against it requires.
Certified Sustainable Project Professional (CSPP™)
PMI's sustainability certification, built on these standards and delivered through the PMI-GPM joint venture.
Reporting
Project Sustainability Reporting Guide (2025) · primary author
How project results are reported so they hold up against external disclosure requirements. A PMI-GPM publication.
Origin
City of Fort Wayne and Allen County, Indiana · 2006 to 2013
A $1.4 million reform of how Indiana's second-largest city and its county approved development. The program ran through an 18-department steering committee spanning two governments, with mayors, commissioners, planners, fire, health, public works and surveyors at the table, and was funded by two separate councils. The business case went to both councils, the funding was secured, and the translation between a Republican county administration and a Democrat city administration was carried for the life of the program.
Paper plats were replaced with online submittal and full workflow visibility on the Accela platform, with land use, drainage and environmental review in scope from the start.
6 months to days
site plan approval time
Last to first
county rank in Indiana for economic development
$500,000
reduction in license cost, plus $100,000 a year in maintenance
18 departments
two governments, one steering committee
The five-lens structure of people, planet, prosperity, process and product was developed on this program, along with the first Sustainability Management Plan. Both became the P5 Standard.
Also on this posting: replacement of the enterprise tax accounting platform, deployment of the state Supreme Court's Odyssey case management system with unified payment integration, and the memorandum consolidating city and county license agreements, followed by negotiation of the enterprise site license.
Books and papers
Becoming Regenerative: A Leadership Journey for Those Who Refuse to Burn Out (2025)
Shortlisted for the inaugural Thinkers50 Regenerative Business Award.
The Real Cost of Regeneration: Judgement and the Limits of Modern Organizations (2026)
Sustainability in Practice: How Professionals Design, Govern, and Deliver Work That Creates Lasting Value (2026)
Sustainable Project Management: The GPM Reference Guide (co-author, 2018)
Amazon best seller.
Chapter author
Driving Sustainable Innovation (PMI, 2024) and Leadership That Lasts (PMI, 2026, two chapters).
More than 200 articles on sustainability in project management, including Forbes, ProjectManagement.com and the GPM Perspectives series. Research papers on adaptive materiality (SSRN, 2025), predictive analytics in sustainability (2024), the PMO as a driver of sustainability (2024) and the role of projects in the EU CSRD and CSDDD (2024). Full list on the Writing page.
Standards bodies and appointments
Working Group Member, GRI Topic Standard Project for Pollution
2024 to present
Appointed by the Global Sustainability Standards Board to the working group revising the Global Reporting Initiative's pollution disclosures, covering emissions to air and soil, critical incidents, chemicals, plastics and nuisance pollutants. Business enterprise constituency.
Contributor, United Nations Global Compact
2013 to present
GPM has been a participant since 2012. Founding signatory of Business for Peace and signatory of the Anti-Corruption Call to Action. Member of the 2013 Sustainable Development Goals working group in New York, contributing to Goal 12, responsible consumption and production.
Member, Forbes Business Council
2024 to present
Contributor on governance, accountability and the operational discipline of sustainability. Selected by review committee, October 2024.
Board Member, PMI-GPM Joint Venture
2025 to present
GPM writes the standards and builds the courses for the joint venture. GPM also delivers Sustainable Project Management® training, assessment and certification, and advises organizations on sustainability governance in projects and capital programs, having worked with governments, NGOs and Fortune 100 companies globally since 2009.
Recognition
Thinkers50 Regenerative Business Award, shortlist
2025
Inaugural award, for Becoming Regenerative.
Thinkers360 Global Ambassador for Sustainability
2025 to 2026
Top 25 thought leaders in Project Management, 2026. Ranked Top 5 for Sustainability and Top 10 for Project Management, 2025.
Sustainability Champion, The Change Leadership
2024
Sustainability Leader of the Year, United States
2021
CEO Today Global Awards.
Knight, Order of St. George
2017
Knighted by the National Capital Region Commandery, Order of St. George, Canada, for work in sustainability.
Teaching and speaking
Visiting professor at SKEMA Business School since 2016, on the MSc in Project and Programme Management and Business Development.
2026 engagements
Dubai International Project Management Forum
January 12 to 15, 2026
Keynote. Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
PMI Global Summit Series Lisbon
April 29 to 30, 2026
Panel and session. Lisbon, Portugal.
PMI Global Summit Series Seoul
June 10 to 11, 2026
Panel and session. Seoul, South Korea.
PMI webinar: Why Some Projects Fail, The Sponsor’s Role
August 31, 2026
Built on the Guide to Responsible Project Sponsorship. 829 attendees.
Sustainability LIVE: The London Summit
September 8, 2026
Main-stage session and workshop with Lucila Dotto, Global Head of Sustainability at PMI: From Sustainability Strategy to Delivery, and The #1 Predictor of Project Success.
Climate Week Prague
September 16, 2026
Session: Climate Action’s Missing Link, Sustainable Project Delivery.
Global Project Management Forum, Riyadh
September 19 to 21, 2026
Keynote and panel moderator.
PMI Global Summit 2026
October 21 to 24, 2026
Speaker, panelist and instructor. Detroit, Michigan.
Education and certifications
Ph.D., Sustainable Development and Environment, Madison Hills University, 2014. Bachelor's degree, Japanese Language, with Secondary Education and Asian Studies, Ball State University, 1993 to 1997.
Certified Sustainable Project Professional (CSPP™), Project Management Institute, 2026 to 2029. Certified Sustainability Professional (CSP), GPM, 2025 to 2030. Certified Sustainable Project Manager, expert level (CSPMx™), GPM, since 2010. GPM360° Registered Consultant and Validator, GPM, since 2020. Registered Trainer, GPM, 2026 to 2029.
Languages: English, Japanese.
Earlier career
Board member, vice president and president for two terms of IPMA-USA, the United States member association of the International Project Management Association, 2012 to 2023. Board of Directors of Science Central in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a regional science and technology center and NASA Educator Resource Center, 2011 to 2016.
Project Manager for Allen County, Indiana, 2006 to 2013. Global Service Center Manager at ITT in 2006, running the 24/7 service desk for the corporate global network and applications. Project Manager and then Senior Project Manager at GIG IP in Chicago, 2001 to 2006, delivering network security programs for banking, automotive and textile clients, covering engagement scoping, impact assessments and risk analysis. Consultant at Accenture in Chicago, 1999 to 2001.
For anyone introducing me
Approved bios at three lengths and cleared high-resolution headshots are on the press page, ready to drop into a program, a proposal or a slide.
Two points on wording. Sustainable Project Management® carries the registered mark and names what GPM offers, so please keep the mark on it. The Certified Sustainable Project Professional (CSPP™) is a certification. The P5 Standard, the Practice Guide, the Project Sustainability Reporting Guide and the Guide to Responsible Project Sponsorship are PMI-GPM publications.
Engagements run as board briefings, executive advisory, sponsor and board workshops, advisory board seats, and expert testimony. Types and terms are on the Work with me page.
Also Scoutmaster in Novi, Michigan from 2023 to 2026, and troop committee chair from September 2026. Eagle Scout, 1991. For a printable copy of this page, use your browser's print function and save as PDF.