Over the past few years, Xyntéo has been working with businesses including Shell and Unilever to develop a global ‘Policy Shapers’ community which delivers innovative solutions to drive sustainable growth. Together we have hosted several roundtables with the Global Leadership and Technology Exchange (GLTE), which brings together senior business leaders and pioneering policymakers to explore successful case studies and drive a collective commitment to developing, piloting and scaling policy initiatives that foster resource-efficient business opportunities.

In November 2013 we published a report, ‘Dispatches from the policy frontline’, which identified eight design principles that encourage and support innovative policymaking across the food-water-energy-climate stress nexus. The report contains some 35 case studies from across the world showcasing powerfully positive approaches to policy relating to the nexus.

These examples highlighted that often the most innovative policies and projects emerge on a smaller scale in cities and regions, where people are freer to experiment. They also show that success does not always require big investments—although ultimately, prioritising finance flows and commercialising the best ideas is needed to scale these important efforts.

Drawing from these case studies and latest insights (including the GLTE collaboration report) this platform seeks to expand this work, providing a neutral space where our Policy Shapers community can exchange practical knowledge and tools to understand the critical success factors or ‘building blocks’ of the best policies and projects. Our hope is that the community can adopt these building blocks to implement and scale further successful projects and policies in other geographical areas or sectors.