September 3, 2026
Authors
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Managing Director, Collaborations and Partnerships, BSR
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Manager, Collaborations and Partnerships, BSR
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Jacob Park
Former Director, Sustainable Futures Lab, Business Transformation, BSR
Collaboration remains central to sustainable business, but it is entering a new phase. The challenges that companies face on climate, human rights, nature, responsible sourcing, supply chain resilience, and broader social and environmental outcomes are systemic. They cut across sectors, geographies, jurisdictions, and value chains. No single company, civil society organization, government, or funder has the authority, information, legitimacy, or leverage to address them alone. But the way companies work together to address them is shifting in significant ways.
This report examines why sustainable business collaboration is changing, explores how future contexts may unfold, and identifies key considerations for designing future-fit collaboration. BSR draws on interviews with practitioners across companies, funders, multilateral organizations, and collaboration intermediaries, as well as a scenario-based workshop, additional foresight exploration, and the experience of BSR’s Collaboration and Futures teams.
The future of collaboration will be more intentionally designed for purpose, grounded in context, resilient to disruption, and capable of moving from alignment to implementation.
Learn more during our webinar on September 16th. Together, we will examine emerging scenarios, how collaboration models can adapt to an uncertain environment, and what future collaborations could look like in practice.
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Resilient business strategies for a complex world.
