Sustainability is on the agenda of every nation, every organisation, and many citizens today; it is a global movement that cannot be ignored. If we do nothing, unsustainable global trends will impact businesses over the next twenty years, as well as governments and civil society organisations. These trends range from climate change to ecosystem decline, from energy insecurity to water scarcity. They affect resource management, poverty, economic justice, food security, demographic change, population growth, and more. Those who are confronted with sustainability challenges notice another global trend: solutions cannot be found in isolation. Collaboration among different actors is paramount; it is also the sole route to successfully addressing the challenges we face.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead
The Club of Rome is an organisation of individuals who share a common concern for the future of humanity and strive to make a difference. The members are notable scientists, economists, businessmen, high-level civil servants, and former heads of state from around the world. Their efforts are supported by the Secretariat in Winterthur, Switzerland, the European Research Centre, registered in Constance, Germany, and National Associations in more than 30 countries.
The Club of Rome conducts research and hosts debates, conferences, lectures, high-level meetings, and events. The Club also publishes a limited number of peer-reviewed “Reports to the Club of Rome”, the most famous of which is “The Limits to Growth“.
The Club of Rome’s mission is to promote understanding of the global challenges facing humanity and to propose solutions through scientific analysis, communication, and advocacy. Recognising the interconnectedness of today’s global challenges, the Club of Rome’s distinct perspective is holistic, systemic, and long-term. As a full member of the Club of Rome, Dr. Petra Kuenkel, with her wide range of professional background, belongs to this global movement network.
Source: https://www.clubofrome.org/
The Collective Leadership Institute is an official, organisational endorser of the Earth Charter, a set of ethical principles that define sustainable development for the 21st century. The Earth Charter was created through one of the most inclusive and participatory global consultation processes ever conducted and calls for “respect and care for the community of life.”
In our work around the world, we commit ourselves to embodying the values in the Earth Charter and to helping bring the sustainability vision articulated in the Earth Charter to life. We are proud to be part of a global partnership for a just, sustainable, and peaceful world. Read and consider endorsing the Earth Charter.”
+++ CLI withdraw its membership with the German chapter (between 2016 and 2023 ) willingly due to corporate members in this network that did not stop their activities in Russia after Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine; we will come back to the network when the situation improves, we still commit to the UNGC principles +++
The UN Global Compact is the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative. It is a call to companies to align strategies and operations with universal principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, and take actions that advance societal goals.
The UN Global Compact supports companies to:
- Do business responsibly by aligning their strategies and operations with Ten Principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption; and
- Take strategic actions to advance broader societal goals, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with an emphasis on collaboration and innovation.
CLI has a partnership with some national UN Global Compact chapters to build capacity among corporate participants in stakeholder collaboration and collective leadership.
Source: https://www.unglobalcompact.org/
Leadership in thought that leads to action is the motto of the World Academy of Art & Science (WAAS). The Academy serves as a forum for reflective scientists, artists, and scholars dedicated to addressing the pressing challenges confronting humanity today independent of political boundaries or limits, whether spiritual or physical — a forum where these problems can be discussed objectively, scientifically, globally, and free from vested interests or regional attachments to arrive at solutions that affirm universal human rights and serve the common good of all humanity. WAAS is founded on faith in the power of original and creative ideas — Real Ideas with effective power — to change the world.
iMOVE is a competence platform for international cooperation in vocational education and training (VET) and initialised by the German state. iMOVE members are accredited and have a proven success story of innovative and international VET concepts and solutions.
The Civil Society Forum (CSF, formerly known as EU-Russia CSF) is a network of thematically diverse non-governmental organisations from Russia and the European Union, established as a bottom-up, non-partisan civic initiative. The Forum serves as a platform for members to engage in joint activities, articulate common positions, provide support and solidarity, and exert civic influence on policy- and decision-making on the (inter)governmental level. Driven by a vision of ‘the civil society beyond borders’, the Forum brings together organisations and people and therefore contributes to the integration between Russia and the EU, based on common values of pluralistic democracy, rule of law, human rights and social justice.
The EU-Russia CSF – like CLI – condemns the Russian war against Ukraine in the strongest possible terms and stands in solidariy with the people of Ukraine. With campaigns like “Another Face of Russia” they show that the Russian aggression is not undisputed among Russian people.
CLI is one of the Initiating Partners behind “Our Blue Future,” a multi-stakeholder initiative for an inclusive and sustainable blue economy in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region. We are excited to work alongside the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association, the Nairobi Convention Secretariat, ProAzul Moçambique, Zanzibar, WWF, GIZ, and other inspiring actors in “an alliance that fosters a diverse network of impact-oriented partners, projects, and champions… to contribute to the common vision of a healthy, prosperous and resilient future for the region’s communities, businesses and natural habitats.” We have been a part of OBF from the very beginning, collaborating closely with actors across the region in helping shape the vision, goals, and strategies, while also helping enliven internal governance processes and external stakeholder engagement.
Read more about how we are helping to enliven a transformation network among 10 Western Indian Ocean Countries here:
CIGS is the European network for funders, capacity builders, national- and regional networks that support and unite citizen initiatives in global solidarity. A network that facilitates the exchange of knowledge, experience and good practises. A network that supports and cheers citizen engagement in local sustainable development everywhere. Citizen Initiatives in Global Solidarity (CIGS) are small, volunteer driven development NGOs in European countries which support communities elsewhere in the world in achieving the sustainable development goals.
CLI is one of the founding members of the network in 2021 and active in the network coordination group, as well as in the capacity building working group.
European Civic Forum (ECF) is a pan-European network of more than 100 associations and NGOs across 29 European countries. Founded in 2005 by its member organisations, ECF works to protect civic space, enable civic participation, and build civil dialogue for more equality, solidarity and democracy in Europe.
CLI joined the ECF in April 2024 with a specific focus on ECF’s networking and capacity building activities.
Transformation networks are composed of many different complementary collaboration ecosystems around similar or different issues of common concern, or collaboration ecosystem in a certain geographical area. Actors in transformation networks aspire to shift a large system towards a positive sustainability tipping point. They consciously operate in a distributed networked action mode, create synergistic connections across different change initiatives, and stay aware of the impact on the over-all large-scale system.
CLI’s movement building goes beyond being part of such global networks, we create own transformation networks:
Transformation literacy is a skill, but also a conference format that CLI created to gather global experts and practitioners in the field of transformations to exchange with the public on this topic.
More information: Transformation Literacy
CLI’s growing network of certified Collective Leadership Specialists meets once a year online for the global networking and learning event Re:Connect. Apart from this annual event, Specialists exchange on a LinkedIn group and meet in regional chapters.
More information: Specialist Community of Practice
Collective Leadership Hubs are action-oriented centres around the world that seek to transform systems toward greater sustainability using CLI’s collective leadership approach. CLI’s vision is to create a worldwide network of Collective Leadership Hubs that scale up collaboration capacity to empower individuals, teams, and stakeholder systems to achieve sustainability transformations.
More information: Collective Leadership Hubs Network
Global movements are at the core of CLI’s strategy. Find the current information on the impact of our strategic pillar Movement Building below.
