As escalating natural disasters thrust climate change into centre stage, global leaders in business and government are increasingly looking to the private sector for the resources and solutions to adapt. New forms of formal and informal partnerships between government and business are emerging which overcome traditional market barriers to deliver resilience building solutions. Public-private collaborations offer a strong model that leverages the strengths of both government and business to help meet the growing need for investments in climate and disaster resilience-building. Government policies can help create an enabling environment and foster partnerships which help overcome the barriers that would otherwise inhibit private sector action. Public-private collaborations can thus engage businesses in activities that manage risks and unlock opportunities, providing benefits to the organisation, both internally and externally.

This report, Resilience in Action: Lessons from Public-Private Collaborations Around the World, discusses nine outstanding cases of collaborations that build resilience, selected from an analysis of over 100 examples of public-private collaborations in developing countries. These case studies show how innovative collaborations can make communities, economies, and businesses more resilient to existing and emerging threats. They demonstrate how a wide array of players are involved in resilience-building activities, including government entities ranging from local authorities to international development organisations, and businesses of all sizes from micro-enterprises to multinationals. The collaborations span the full spectrum of sectors and industries most critical for building resilience: agriculture, housing, information and communication technology, health, fishing and aquaculture, transportation, tourism, water, financial services, waste and energy.

To read the summary for policymakers, please download it here.

Further reading:

Project homepage: Private sector engagement in disaster risk management and climate resilience
Case studies: Resilience in Action: Lessons from Public‐Private Collaborations Around the World