Beyond transformation: Embracing sustainability in technology projects

We need to stop treating sustainability as an afterthought (if a thought at all) in technology projects, and start embedding it into every decision. Sustainability has been gaining ground in infrastructure and construction projects for some time now, but in tech projects? Not so much. With growing technical debt, rising carbon costs and overlooked social impacts, this needs to change.

By broadening the lens to include sustainable practices, technology initiatives can avoid wasted effort, deliver longer-lasting value, and position our organisations as forward-thinking leaders in the field. Tayyab Jamil, Managing Director at Firewood, spoke to project practitioners and leaders at the APM Annual Conference 2025, sharing his expert perspective on what to do about sustainability in tech projects and why.

“It’s very cool to think about transformation and innovation, but I think the future is also about regeneration.”

Missing sustainability perspectives in tech

When people think of sustainability, they often think purely of environmental factors, carbon emissions, biodiversity, or cutting waste. All important, yes, but in technology projects, sustainability is broader. It’s about avoiding wasted time and money on initiatives that repeat mistakes, duplicate work, and fail to deliver long-term value. As Tayyab Jamil put it, “we keep doing projects we shouldn’t even be doing”.

Many technology projects, especially in sectors like financial services, are plagued by a cycle of reinvention. So often, organisations embark on massive transformation initiatives, spending tens or hundreds of millions, only to find themselves rebuilding or scrapping them a few years later. This cycle isn’t just financially unsustainable; it creates unnecessary complexity and drains team energy. The obsession with big-bang transformation programmes often blinds us to simpler, continuous improvement approaches that deliver better outcomes with less waste.

One root cause is the obsession with ‘transformation’. Every project now is labelled a transformational programme, and the allure of big-bang change often eclipses common-sense incremental improvement. As Tayyab said, “what’s wrong with continuous improvement or small change?”

A key issue is the lack of focus on reusability and simplicity. Too often, technology solutions are built in silos, with little thought given to whether existing tools or processes could be adapted. So how can organisations bring sustainability to the forefront of technology projects?

A framework for sustainable tech projects

• Tayyab proposed practical ways we can implement sustainability:

• Add sustainability checkpoints to existing gateway processes

• Incorporate sustainability metrics on project dashboards alongside KPIs

• Add a sustainability impact section to all business cases

• Use an assurance wizard like FAST to ensure sustainability is reviewed for all project types

He also shared a simple assessment framework, a set of lenses, really, for organisations and leaders to really assess tech initiatives for sustainability. Whenever a new project is in the works (or an ongoing one is under review), evaluate it against these dimensions:

1. Reusability: Can this solution be reused elsewhere? Maximise use of existing platforms and modular designs that can serve multiple purposes. Avoid one-off builds that have no life beyond the immediate project. If another division already built something similar, consider collaborating or sharing rather than duplicating the effort.

   
   

2. Social impact (people): How does this project affect people and skills? Consider the mix of onshore/offshore and internal/external work. Does the project invest in growing your team’s capabilities or simply rely on outside contractors? Are you inadvertently contributing to a local skills gap by offshoring critical work? Balance cost with the value of maintaining institutional knowledge and a robust local team. Also think about end-users: will the change be easily adopted or does it disrupt people’s work in unintended ways?

   
   

3. Energy and resource efficiency: Are we using resources wisely? This applies to computing resources (e.g. optimising cloud usage so you’re not running servers at 5% utilisation) as well as choosing technology that’s efficient and right for the job. It also means avoiding waste by not doing unnecessary projects or features (since every bit of code ultimately consumes energy to develop and run). A well-aimed, lean project is better for the planet than a sprawling one with lots of throwaway work.

   
   

4. Capability enhancement: Does this project enhance our human capability or diminish it? Instead of ‘transformation’ equating to cutting headcount, think of transformation as an opportunity to up-skill and empower your workforce. A sustainable technology project leaves the organisation stronger in know-how than before. For example, implementing a new system should come with training plans to elevate the team’s skills. Be cautious about automating or outsourcing so much that you deskill your organisation. The goal is to augment people, not replace them outright.

   
   

5. Simplicity (architecture and process): Are we keeping the solution as simple as possible? Avoid complexity. Ensure the architecture stays within standard ‘guardrails’ of the technologies you’re using (over-customisation of vendor software, for instance, leads to upgrade nightmares and brittle systems). One tactic Tayyab mentioned was holding firm on custom requests: if someone insists on a deviation that complicates the design, have a high-level approver (even the CIO), sign off. You’d be surprised how many ‘must-haves’ disappear when a sponsor has to put their name on the line for it. Encourage the adoption of out-of-the-box best practices rather than tailoring everything to existing quirks. Simplify business processes rather than encoding every exception. A simpler system is cheaper, more reliable, and easier to adapt in the future; cornerstones of sustainability.

By going through these points, project teams can assess and adjust course to build more sustainably. It turns lofty principles into concrete questions in day-to-day project management. Building sustainability into tech isn’t just an ethical choice, it’s a practical one. It reduces cost, improves delivery predictability, cuts risk, and strengthens your teams.

By asking hard questions, reusing what works, keeping things simple, and investing in people, we can make technology delivery not just more efficient, but truly sustainable. And ultimately, that’s what will set successful organisations apart: a commitment to building systems, teams, and communities that last.