BRC calls for retailer collaboration on net zero emissions

Its new UK Retail 2025 Net Zero Stocktake report uses improved real-world data to assess industry progress, challenges and priorities on the path to net zero.

Using improved data quality and broader coverage, the report provides a clearer picture of industry emissions. The accompanying survey shows strong progress, with 91 per cent of retailers having established and publicly reported GHG baselines, four in five fleet drivers trained in fuel efficiency programmes, and 90 per cent of new retail buildings using LED lighting.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has urged retailers to strengthen collaboration across the value chain to tackle scope 3 emissions from supply chains and customer use.
Its new UK Retail 2025 Net Zero Stocktake report uses improved real-world data to assess progress, barriers and priorities for the retail industry’s transition toward net zero.

Yet with over 93 per cent of retail emissions falling outside of direct control, substantive industry progress depends on joined-up retailer collaboration to influence global suppliers into action, British consumers toward large-scale behaviour change, and UK government into supportive policy. 

The report shows that only a third (30 per cent) of the very biggest suppliers provide GHG emissions data and 70 per cent of products do not have information for consumers on responsible sourcing.

Progress in these areas has been held up by systemic challenges, including policy uncertainty, supply chain complexity, financial pressures, and technological limitations.

The BRC will continue to support retailers to deliver the transformative change needed by convening cross-industry stakeholders, continuing to track annual progress, and shaping policy to unlock investment and drive momentum.

“In 2020, we launched the Climate Action Roadmap to set the ambition for UK retail to reach net zero by 2040. Five years on, we must use the takeaways from this report to drive the industry from collective ambition to a step change in collaborative action. The climate emergency is no longer tomorrow’s problem. It is here today; disrupting supply chains, driving shortages, increasing costs for households – and threatening the long-term stability and resilience of UK retail. Climate change is a very real risk to businesses and the consequences of inaction are simply too big to ignore. We need more radical collaboration between companies to bring down emissions and step up the drive to net zero,” Helen Dickinson, CEO of the BRC, said.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RR)