Business and government need each other to deliver impact at scale. Few know how to work together.
Many of the products, services and markets that sustainability transitions need don't yet exist at the scale or price required. Building them takes business, finance and government working together. Each depends on the others, yet joint problem-solving is rare, and billions in investment stay locked up.
WBCSD asked us to find out what makes public-private collaboration succeed, and to develop a model that business, government and finance could use to work together at scale.
The brief asked for a framework. The evidence called for new institutional architecture.
WBCSD asked for a how-to framework and five to ten case studies. We argued from the outset that no single template would unlock co-investment. Collaborations succeed or fail on people: whether they're incentivised, trusted and equipped to act.
We studied the people as well as the structures. We spoke to more than 50 practitioners across six continents and analysed more than 30 cases. The strongest collaborations were organised differently: around a clear mission, a trusted orchestrator and governance tough enough to survive political and financial turbulence.
The finance tools exist. What's missing is an intermediary.
Sifting through the evidence, we isolated the real gap. The financial instruments to unlock co-investment largely exist. What's missing is the function that brings parties into strategic alignment and keeps them there. We distilled five design imperatives for filling that gap: clarity of mission, trusted orchestrators, robust governance, delivery-focused capabilities and a full solution stack.
We designed CO_LAB to put them to work: a new kind of institution, built around missions rather than organisations. A dedicated intermediary plays three roles: convener, architect and deal-maker. It takes public, private and civil society actors through three phases: from problem to mission, to re-imagining the future, to delivery. It enables local institutions rather than replacing them, holds no funds, and is built to end when the mission does. We tested and developed it with practitioners in an online workshop and at New York Climate Week in 2024.
“Research by WBCSD, in collaboration with BRAE, identifies five design imperatives underpinning successful public-private collaboration.”
Sector Transition Plans: The Finance Playbook, UK Transition Finance Council · 2025
practitioners interviewed in group and one-to-one dialogues
continents, a genuinely global evidence base
case studies analysed; the brief asked for five to ten
design imperatives, now cited in UK policy
WBCSD published the research in 2025 for its members and partners to build on.
CO_LAB sets out how business, government and finance can organise around shared missions.
The UK Transition Finance Council built its Finance Playbook's guidance on our design imperatives.
The trusted orchestrator is now a defined role in the transition.