The Cooperatives and Mutuals 50 (CM50) Leadership Group held its first Leaders’ Summit in Brussels last June, bringing together 80 chief executives and leaders of cooperatives and mutuals from 28 countries across five continents. The meeting aimed to place the cooperative movement at the centre of a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable global economy.
The initiative, promoted by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), was officially launched in November 2025 during the World Social Summit in Doha, Qatar. Its main objective is to increase the economic weight of the cooperative and mutual movement by raising its estimated global turnover from US$2.7 trillion to US$5 trillion annually.
Together, the participants represent a combined turnover of nearly US$500 billion. According to the initiative’s promoters, this economic capacity will make it possible to develop large-scale projects capable of transforming the cooperative business model worldwide.
ICA Director General and CM50 Co-Chair Jeroen Douglas described the Summit as “a powerful new chapter for the global cooperative movement”, adding that collaboration among cooperative leaders will enable them not only to discuss the future but also to build it together.
CM50 Co-Chair Shaun Tarbuck stressed that cooperation among organisations makes it easier to develop joint projects in areas such as digital markets, finance, food systems and technological transformation, strengthening both the organisations themselves and the communities they serve.
CM50’s five commitments
During the Summit, participants agreed on five strategic commitments that will guide CM50’s work over the coming years:
• Create a cooperative digital marketplace used daily by 150,000 businesses.
• Develop Cloud Coop, a cooperative cloud infrastructure serving more than 100,000 organisations.
• Promote healthy and sustainable food systems benefiting 500 million people.
• Train 4,000 new cooperative leaders through an international academic network of excellence.
• Mobilise the movement’s capacity to support the reconstruction of communities affected by crises in at least five major international contexts.
These commitments aim to strengthen collaboration among cooperatives across sectors and regions through projects with a global reach.
Cooperative innovation from around the world
The Summit also provided an opportunity to showcase successful initiatives demonstrating the cooperative movement’s capacity for innovation. These included the international expansion of India’s dairy cooperative Amul; the leadership of Ethiopia’s Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union through certified organic production; Germany’s Solar-Bürger-Genossenschaft eG, an energy cooperative that installed a photovoltaic roof on a football stadium with the support of its members; and the experience of Coopercitrus in Brazil.
The cooperative movement and emerging global challenges
Another key focus of the Summit was the analysis of the international context, shaped by geopolitical transformation, climate change, artificial intelligence and demographic change.
Alessandra Stråberg, economist at the Swedish group Länsförsäkringar, argued that cooperatives should focus on the areas they can control and pursue growth in scale as a key strategy for strengthening their resilience in times of crisis.
Meanwhile, Kristof De Spiegeleer, Chief Executive Officer of OurWorld and Chief Technology Officer of CM50, said that the artificial intelligence revolution offers cooperatives a unique opportunity to lead the development of technologies based on collective intelligence, data sovereignty and shared ownership, rather than simply adapting to innovations driven by others.
The promoters of CM50 also stressed that the digital tools, new markets and technological infrastructures developed through the initiative will gradually be made available to cooperatives of all sizes. They therefore encourage cooperative organisations around the world to become involved and contribute their experience to the development of a global cooperative economy with the ambition of reaching US$5 trillion in annual turnover.
