Why Trust-Based Collaboration is the Next Big Climate Innovation

The Limits of Fragmentation in Climate Action

When people discuss climate innovation, they often picture technology—better batteries, smarter grids, or carbon capture at scale. Those breakthroughs matter and are happening every day. But on World Creativity and Innovation Day, we must recognize a different kind of innovation: one that is structural rather than technical, already underway, and quietly accelerating climate progress.

It is, in a word, trust.

A System Built for Fragmentation

The social impact sector is filled with brilliant, committed people working on the climate crisis. Yet it is organized in a way almost perfectly designed to prevent the scale of impact the crisis demands. Many organizations compete for the same funding, guard their methodologies, protect their data, and duplicate efforts. They differentiate their missions so precisely that a funder might wonder whether any of them are solving the same problem.

None of this is driven by bad faith. It is driven by survival. For decades, philanthropic funding has rewarded differentiation over collaboration and proprietary impact over shared learning. The result is a fragmented ecosystem applying fragmented resources to a problem that is anything but fragmented. The climate crisis does not respect organizational boundaries—and those working to solve it must stop acting as if it does.

Designing for Trust, Not Competition

So what would it look like to redesign the system itself, not just the solutions within it?

In 2023, Pyxera Global joined an unusual experiment: the Collaborative for Systemic Climate Action. We did not know where it would lead, but something fundamental had to change.

We began with 15 organizations with a combined 250+ years of experience. Three years later, the Collaborative has grown to 29 organizations, including:

• Climate KIC
• The Club of Rome
• The B Team
• Green Africa Youth Organization
• Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance

All are united by a shared dedication to break down the silos that have long limited what any one of them could accomplish alone. Each organization committed to driving the systems change needed to build inclusive and regenerative societies. That meant leaving organizational ego at the door. It meant rethinking power dynamics and stepping away from traditional partnership models. Most importantly, it meant sharing what is usually protected: intellectual property, business models, and even funder relationships.

This level of openness carries real risk. For any single organization, it could be destabilizing. But the members of the Collaborative believe that the scale of the climate crisis outweighs institutional self-protection—and that meaningful progress requires taking risks together.

Proof That It Works

And the results are beginning to speak for themselves. Together, the Collaborative has secured significant funding from major institutional donors, including:

• Oak Foundation
• Hans Wilsdorf Foundation
• Quadrature Climate Foundation

These partners might not have been reached by individual organizations working alone. The Collaborative has also hosted joint thought leadership and fundraising events at global convenings such as the World Economic Forum, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, and Climate Week NYC.

"The climate crisis does not respect organizational boundaries, and those of us working to solve it must stop acting as if it does."