UNIDO and WBCSD sign declaration to strengthen sustainable industrial development partnership

Building on their longstanding partnership, the joint declaration aims to advance green industrialization, circularity, agriculture and food systems

Antalya, November 11, 2026 – The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) have today signed a joint declaration at COP31, outlining their plan to collaborate across industrial development sectors. The declaration provides a shared framework for closer collaboration across green industrialization, agriculture and food systems and circularity, with the aim of turning ambition into practical action. The collaboration areas include:

• Green industrialization: Supporting implementation of the Belém Declaration on Green Industrialization and development of the Global Green Industrialization Agenda, alongside continued cooperation around the Breakthrough Agenda. By bringing industry expertise and private sector engagement into this effort, UNIDO and WBCSD will look to strengthen coordinated international action on industrial transformation.
• Agriculture and food systems: The joint design and operationalization of the Coalition on the Critical Middle, aimed at engaging the private sector in driving decarbonization and a broader food system transformation. It focuses on businesses operating in the mid-segment of the agri-food value chain from farm gate to retail and includes aggregation, processing, packaging, distribution, and related intermediary functions.
• Circular economy: Using The Global Circularity Protocol, launched at COP30, to support implementing circular economy strategies. The collaboration would focus on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through practical tools, capacity building and the exploration of financing opportunities.

UNIDO and WBCSD also intend to collaborate on several other areas crucial to ensuring sustainable industrial development, including the fertilizer transition, sustainable cooling for cold supply chains, and high-integrity carbon markets.

The organizations will also explore ways to connect WBCSD members with UNIDO’s work at a country level, identifying opportunities for companies to contribute technical expertise to collaboration across green industrialization and circularity.

This partnership brings together two organizations with extensive networks and deep knowledge of industry, the private sector and the challenges they face. By combining UNIDO’s decades of experience with governments and industry in emerging markets and developing economies and WBCSD’s global business community, we can deliver solutions on the ground faster, supporting local businesses and skills development.

– UNIDO Director General Gerd Müller

This declaration builds on many years of successful collaboration between WBCSD and UNIDO. By combining UNIDO’s convening power and country-level reach with the practical business expertise of WBCSD’s members, we can move beyond shared ambition to a partnership that delivers greater impact in advancing circularity, building more sustainable food systems and accelerating green industrialization.

– WBCSD President and CEO Peter Bakker