Our Approach
Making markets fit for the future
For more than three decades, CISL has worked with leaders in business, finance and government to accelerate progress towards a sustainable economy.
Many of the technologies, business models and solutions needed to address climate change, nature loss and social inequality already exist. Yet progress remains too slow because the conditions needed for them to scale are often not in place.
At CISL, we believe the next phase of progress depends on shaping the markets, sectors and systems that influence what succeeds. Markets determine where capital flows, which innovations scale and how value is created. When markets reward resilience, innovation and long-term value, better solutions can succeed at the scale society needs.
Our role is to help create those conditions and support the transition from ambition to implementation.
Find out more about making markets fit for the future
Competitive sustainability
The need to reshape markets is being accelerated by climate and nature risks, technological disruption and shifting geopolitics. These forces are changing how organisations compete, creating new risks while opening up opportunities for innovation, growth and value creation.
At CISL, we describe this as competitive sustainability: the idea that long-term business success depends on helping build resilient, sustainable economies. Organisations that anticipate change, innovate and help shape the markets of the future will be better positioned to thrive, while those that remain tied to outdated models risk being left behind.
This requires moving beyond incremental change and internal sustainability programmes to engage with the wider systems that shape outcomes.
Competing in the Age of Disruption
Our report, Competing in the Age of Disruption, explores how leaders can build resilience, unlock new sources of value and accelerate market-wide transition through collective action.
Leadership for market transformation
No single organisation can transform the economy alone.
Lasting change happens when leadership, finance, innovation and policy work together to create the conditions that allow better solutions to scale. This requires action that goes beyond individual organisations to shape the wider systems, markets and incentives that determine what succeeds.
At CISL, we believe effective leadership means using disruption as a catalyst for positive progress. Leadership is not simply about managing organisations; it is about creating the conditions for collective action, innovation and transformation. Our Leadership Capabilities Framework explores the capabilities needed to lead in uncertainty and help build thriving economies and societies.
We put this approach into practice through three interconnected pathways:
Building business leadership
Equipping leaders with the capabilities, partnerships and confidence to navigate disruption, shape markets and create long-term value.
Rewiring finance
Aligning financial systems, incentives and investment flows with the needs of resilient, competitive and sustainable economies.
Scaling innovation and systems transformation
Supporting solutions to move from pilots and niche applications to market-wide adoption.
Where we focus
Transformation happens in specific systems, where markets, policy, finance and innovation shape how value is created and whether better solutions can scale.
Our work focuses on four priority systems:
- Energy: building cleaner, more resilient and competitive energy systems.
- Built environment: creating places that support resilience, productivity and wellbeing.
- Food, land and agriculture: supporting resilient food systems and thriving landscapes.
- Materials and manufacturing: enabling more circular, resource-efficient production systems.
Across these systems, finance, AI and digital technologies play an increasingly important role in directing investment, accelerating innovation and enabling transformation.