Rethinking multilateralism: A new role for the private sector

Multilateral institutions are under pressure – facing geopolitical tensions, declining trust, financial constraints and growing questions over their effectiveness. Yet today’s global challenges demand collective action, creating a clear opportunity for the private sector to help drive solutions on issues such as climate change, widening inequalities, technological disruptions and rising private and public debt challenges.

The report examines how multilateral institutions and the private sector work together today, why this cooperation is not delivering its full potential and what reforms are needed to build a strategic partnership with the potential to deliver tangible societal change. Drawing on stakeholder insights across business, policy and international organisations, the report outlines practical recommendations tied to the areas of policy and governance, investment and finance, public–private partnerships and global coordination.

Multilateral-private cooperation exists, but remains limited

Businesses already participate in many international initiatives, often contributing through financing, implementation, technical expertise or service delivery. Yet, this engagement remains inconsistent and lacks institutional depth.

The private sector is rarely embedded in governance structures, strategic planning or long-term accountability mechanisms. In most cases, businesses are engaged late in the process, once priorities and project structures have already been defined, rather than being involved in shaping strategies from the beginning. This limits impact and increasingly undermines the perceived legitimacy and effectiveness of multilateral systems.

Business has a critical role to play in the next phase of multilateral reform – not only as a source of capital but as a partner in innovation, scaling and results-oriented finance.

The three main barriers to multilateral–private cooperation

1. Institutional barriers within multilateral organisations 
   Multilateral institutions often rely on slow, complex and fragmented procedures. Different standards and approval processes increase transaction costs, while limited opportunities for co-creation keep private-sector engagement largely transactional rather than strategic.  

2. Financial and risk-return constraints 
   Existing financial tools are often poorly aligned with private-sector needs. Limited guarantees, lack of local currency solutions, unclear exit pathways and mismatched investment timelines make development investments difficult to scale.  

3. Constraints within the private sector 
   Many businesses still lack strong incentives or internal capacity to engage in development investment. Short-term valuation models often undervalue long-term impact, de-risking benefits and strategic engagement. In addition, regulatory uncertainty, political risk and unclear accountability frameworks continue to limit deeper involvement. 

A renewed framework for multilateral-private cooperation: The three key shifts that are needed 

1. Move beyond consultation toward shared ownership and accountability. The private sector should be engaged throughout the full policy and project cycle – from planning and design to implementation and evaluation.  

2. Replace fragmented cooperation with integrated investment architecture that can mobilise private capital at scale through standardised instruments and portfolio-based approaches, helping to create viable markets while aligning financial returns with societal impact.  

3. Make private-sector engagement a core function in multilateral institutions by developing renewed capabilities and operating models, creating dedicated co-creation teams, simplifying procedures and embedding collaboration into internal incentives and operations. 

A new multilateralism that delivers 

Multilateralism must evolve to deliver global public goods at the scale and speed required today. Trillion-dollar financing gaps cannot be closed and systemic transformation cannot be achieved without deeper and more structured engagement from the private sector.

This requires rethinking the private sector’s role – not simply as a source of finance or implementation capacity, but as a co-leader in shaping priorities, sharing responsibility and delivering solutions. Multilateral reforms must also focus on creating the conditions and mechanisms to seize the opportunity: designing platforms, rules and incentives that make private capital a routine component of global development finance.

This report calls for decisive shifts in governance, financing and institutional practice to create a stronger and more effective model of multilateral-private cooperation for the future.

Rethinking multilateralism: A new role for the private sector was launched at a high-level roundtable with leaders from government, business and international organisations from G7 countries and beyond as well as at the France B7 Summit in Paris.