In this episode of the Major Projects Association podcast, Executive Director Andy Murray is joined by Alice Poole, Associate Partner at PA Consulting, and Janet Greenwood, Global Lead for Sustainable Infrastructure at KPMG, to explore how sustainability can be meaningfully embedded across the lifecycle of major projects. Building on insights from our recent event on collaborating with supply chains, this conversation acts as a bridge to our upcoming April seminar, focusing on turning ambition into action and embedding sustainability into everyday project delivery.
Drawing on global experience, UK case studies, and practical examples from across infrastructure and major programmes, Alice and Janet unpack what it really takes to move from high-level commitments to tangible outcomes. They discuss the role of individual and organisational agency, the importance of procurement and supply chain alignment, and how the MPA Sustainability Playbook helps translate complex challenges into actionable steps across define, design, procure, deliver, and operate stages. The conversation also tackles the realities of trade-offs, risk, and innovation, highlighting how sustainability can drive better project outcomes, not just compliance.
To round things off, the episode closes with a track chosen by our guests - a moment of reflection to end the conversation.
Links
Register for our upcoming seminar: Sustainable Futures: Embedding action in major projects
Major Projects Sustainability Playbook
Not the End of the World by Hannah Ritchie
The Embodied Biodiversity Impacts of Construction Materials research report, November 2023
Janet Greenwood
Global Lead for Sustainable Infrastructure, KPMG
Janet Greenwood is KPMG’s Global Lead for Sustainable Infrastructure. In 2024 Janet won The Times Consultant of the Year and Management Consultancies Association Experienced Leader Award.
She is Chair of the Major Projects Associations Sustainability Ambassadors, a member of the Institution of Civil Engineer’s Inspiring Engineering Excellence Board and founder member of the Cambridge University Centre for Smart Infrastructure in Construction’s Carbon Code.
A Visiting Fellow at Southampton University Business School, a Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation and a Policy Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, she has extensive experience in delivering sustainability, social value and carbon priorities in major construction projects and supporting built environment clients to deliver their most challenging programmes. She has over 30 years’ experience in the built environment, having worked across sectors such as water, wastewater, flood defence and transport.
Connect with Janet on LinkedIn.
Alice Poole
Associate Partner, PA Consulting
Alice Poole is an Associate Partner at PA Consulting. She leads PA’s sustainability approach for end-to-end Delivery and specialises in large complex programmes involving system-wide change, extensive political and stakeholder engagement, social impact, and high levels of risk. She has over two decades of experience promoting sustainability (sustainable and green growth, social change, strong institutions, resilience, climate change adaptation, mitigation), just transitions, and effective delivery in the UK and globally. She is especially focused on the adaptation/ mitigation interface – how to ensure cities and places incorporate broader resilience and strong social impact measures. Her experience includes work on fragile states and political economy (including urban water) at the World Bank, and as a Transatlantic Fellow at The German Marshall Fund.
Connect with Alice on LinkedIn.
