Climate change demands urgent action, but human systems change at a human pace.

Only brave coalitions can close the gap.

On November 28 this year, the European Parliament declared a climate emergency, making it the largest governing bloc to do so. It’s clear that climate action is more urgent than ever, but the markets and politics that accelerate global warming are changing at a snail’s pace. People around the world still aspire to consume like the rich West, companies lack the will to abandon business as usual, and political gridlock hampers real action.

Human civilisation is running out of time. So, what on earth do we do?

No single government, organisation, company or person can tackle climate-related issues alone. The problems are too big, too ubiquitous and too complex. What’s more, a great deal of expertise and experience is needed from all sectors if we’re going to successfully address the myriad issues that will arise as a result of climate change.

If we want emerging solutions to actually work, we not only have to work together, but have to consider parties we wouldn’t normally consider. We need brave coalitions.

The snowballing power of partnerships

Runaway climate change is an example of a positive feedback loop: where a small action or disturbance in a system is amplified until the system collapses. Feeding greenhouse gas pollution into the atmosphere causes greater and greater change until the world reaches an irreversible, much-warmer state.

Positive feedback loops are self-reinforcing until their end-point, writes environmental scientist Donella Meadows in her essay 12 Leverage Points: “The more people catch the flu, the more they infect other people,” she writes. “The more the soil erodes, the less vegetation it can support; the fewer roots and leaves to soften rain and runoff, the more soil erodes.”

We believe partnerships and coalitions could spark a positive feedback loop of a different kind: a movement that snowballs with transformative power as it grows in size and trust.

One study of the state and federal agencies that govern US Great Lakes fisheries found that formal and informal contact between agencies contributes to trust, and lets agencies work out their differences before things come to a head. Domain experts build up years of institutional knowledge to smooth out and avoid inter-agency frictions.

Meanwhile, corporates find the same principles apply. Increasingly, they need to align and work with governments, social enterprises and other companies, with each party bringing complementary strengths and values to a partnership. There’s a human factor involved: for instance, Turkish industrial conglomerate Borusan specifically seeks to hire people with NGO backgrounds for its social impact work on empowering women in the workforce, to ensure that their team members can “speak the same language” as their social-enterprise partners.

Still-larger global corporations are taking coalitions seriously. A coalition of consumer-goods companies this year launched Loop, a zero-waste platform for products like detergent and shampoo. Member companies include Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Carrefour, Tesco, Mondelēz, PepsiCo, Danone, Mars, Nestlé and Unilever­– so there’s massive potential for scale and impact. (There’s another collaboration opportunity: with the public sector, to support the kind of infrastructure, legislation, and policy that will enable Loop to scale.)

And yes, there’s a business case for joining such movements too. Research by B Lab (a network of purpose-driven companies or ‘B Corporations’ held to the highest environmental standards and using business as a force for good) found that certified B Corporations in the UK were growing 28 times faster than the national economic growth rate of 0.5 percent.

Partnerships take time, so the time to act is now.

Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible for partnerships to flourish in a state of urgency. It takes time to build trust, share expertise and break down systemic barriers to change. But that is precisely why partnerships are not just about finding new solutions; they’re about a massive shift in mindset: one that prioritises long-term development and self-sustaining solutions over quick fixes and short-term aid.

According to the Theory U model of change, popularised by leading MIT researcher Otto Scharmer, this new way of thinking is totally worth the investment.

Take the Loop Alliance for instance. The circular economy came to the fore around 2012 when the idea was amplified by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the World Economic Forum; but it was seven years before the agreements, infrastructure, and other groundwork were laid for Loop to be consumer-ready. In the meantime, small successes — such as plastic made from seaweed or silk-like textiles made from orange fibres — can provide the momentum needed to keep going.

In the case of climate disasters, partnerships between governments, organisations and private sector companies can perform the unique role of long-term planning, adaptation and prevention. Rather than waiting for disaster to strike, we can plan now, across all sectors, for a new world map, new economic models, and more sustainable and environmentally conscious ways of life. To do it right, we must start now before it’s too late.

The case it clear: we clearly need each other.

In all our work at Kite Insights, we keep coming back to the idea of partnerships and coalitions — especially to the idea of strengthening coalitions between very different parties so they can be a force for good in the world.

For the Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society, we coordinate the Daring Circle working groups: companies and other organisations trying to lead their industries to greater and more meaningful gender diversity. As part of KiKLab, a partnership with impact investors KOIS Invest, we help scale partnerships between companies and social enterprises working toward the same sustainability and social impact goals. And that’s not to mention all the networks and partnerships in which our growing agency partakes, both formally and informally.

We keep coming back to partnerships because we are increasingly aware of the fact that our global challenges are, in fact, global. Not singular or particular; but pervasive, divergent and rooted in complex systems of governance, culture and finance.

There may be no quick fix to any of them, but there is a fast-track to effective, lasting solutions: embracing diverse sources of expertise and experience. When groups have a high diversity of gender, race, age, backgrounds and experiences, that creates an enabling environment for more constructive discussion and innovative, collaborative solutions.

So, let’s take the time now to plan for a better future. Let’s set the pace for change. Together.