Contents Executive Summary03 Findings08 The imperative for newinstitutional architecture10 Introduction05 Design imperatives for newpublic-private collaborations13 Cause for optimism in anincreasingly fragmented world05 Opportunities for business to catalyzechange in global value chains16 Reframing the problem: from marketfailures to aligned incentives06 A radically different operatingmechanism is needed06 Conclusion19 This report07 Re-organising for amission-driven future20 New roles for businessand business associations21 Executive Summary Findings The context We are in a period of pronounced uncertaintyand instability. Rapid transformations in theglobal energy system, supply chains, and naturalecosystems are underway. In 2024, globaltemperatures rose 1.5°C above the long-term normfor the first time, triggering severe climate impactsand disruption in global value chains. Extremeweather events in 2024 alone caused more than$320 billion in losses. New institutional architecture is urgentlyneeded across all levels—from local landscapesto transcontinental supply chains—to aligngovernments, businesses, financial institutions,and civil society around shared sustainabilitygoals, problem solve, and drive coordinated action.Five design imperatives are essential for buildingsuccessful collaborations: 1.Align around clear missions:Collaborationsshould be anchored to clear, mission-drivenapproaches that create coherence across thepublic, private and third sectors in pursuit ofresilient, secure, and sustainable outcomes. Theprivate sector can play acritical role in initiating, advocating for, andresourcing missions. Simultaneously, financial flows toward cleansolutions have surged. Global investment in theenergy transition reached $2.1 trillion in 2024,nearly double that of fossil fuels. Many countriesare racing to seize the upsides of this cleantechnology shift, including enhanced energysecurity, cleaner air, and green industrial growth.However, many products, services, and marketsessential for sustainability transitions are not yetavailable at the scale or price required. 2.Use trusted orchestrators to convene andfacilitate:Effective collaborations require‘honest brokers’ with credibility across sectorsto convene and guide stakeholders. The challenge remains whether the globalcommunity can act swiftly and at scale toprevent climate change and nature loss fromcausing irreversible damage to social, ecological,and economic systems. In 2025, geopoliticalfragmentation, social polarization, and risinginequality are undermining multilateralism andtrust in institutions, making managed transitionsthat minimize societal and business impacts evenmore challenging. 3.Set up for success by tailoring governance:Care is needed to shape the role of orchestratorsto safeguard missions. Robust governance,transparency and accountability mechanismslinked to clear roles, inputs, outputs andoutcomes are critical to ensure engagement,compliance, trust and adequate resourcing. 4.Build delivery-focused capabilities:Public-private cooperation requires a diverse rangeof skills including creative, technical, designand relationship capabilities geared towardsdeveloping and implementing solutions. But history shows that when governments,industries, academia, civil society and financialinstitutions align around shared goals, societiescan innovate and reorganize rapidly. There isgrowing recognition that incentives are aligning totackle sustainability challenges with the need forenabling environments that unlock investment anddrive market creation, value and jobs. The stage isset for a new era of public-private cooperation. 5.Develop a full solution stack:Collaborationsmust go beyond technological innovation,creating a suite of financial, technical andpolicy solutions to fully address complexsustainability challenges holistically. This report WBCSD, in collaboration with BRAE, explored howbusinesses and governments can better organizeand collaborate to build a resilient, secure, andsustainable future. Based on a rigorous discoveryprocess through interviews and group dialogueswith more than 50 leading experts, spread acrosssix continents, we explore success factors, deliverymechanisms, and the role that organizationssuch as WBCSD can play in partnership with theirstakeholders in business, government, finance andcivil society. Three key opportunities for private sector actorsin business and finance to accelerate impact wereidentified that serve as inspiration and startingpoints for where they can lead. Implications Significant opportunities for transforming marketsand scaling sustainable solutions remain out ofreach when public, private, and third sectorsoperate in silos. By embracing cooperation withgovernments and a proactive, catalytic role inmarket development, corporations can activelyinfluence the evolution of sustainable markets,securing competitive advantage, resilient supplychains and their future role. →High-qu