From Carbon to Nature: Evolving Your Retail Sustainability Approach

Retail’s sustainability focus has shifted. First it was carbon. Then packaging. Now, biodiversity is next. That evolution reflects growing awareness of how businesses depend on nature—and the risks of ignoring it.

The Nature & Business Masterclass helps you catch up and get ahead. It connects biodiversity strategy to practical action, regulation, and innovation.

The Sustainability Shift in Retail

Here’s how the focus has evolved over the last decade:

Era	Priority	Business Response
2010s	Carbon	Net-zero targets, energy efficiency, SBTi
Late 2010s	Plastics & Packaging	Packaging pledges, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) prep, consumer pressure
2020s (now)	Biodiversity & Nature	Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), regenerative sourcing, nature strategies

What’s clear: these priorities are layering, not replacing each other. Biodiversity action builds on climate and packaging efforts—but brings new complexity.

Why Shift Focus Now?

• Retail directly depends on nature. From raw materials to pollination, clean water, and stable weather systems.
• Regulators are catching up. Biodiversity Net Gain is already law. Forest Risk Commodity legislation is due by end of 2024.
• Investors are paying attention. TNFD launched in 2023, and UK government may soon follow the path of TCFD and make it mandatory.

This isn’t just a sustainability issue. It’s financial, reputational, and operational. And unlike carbon, nature risks vary by geography and supply chain.

“Businesses are getting to grips with measuring their impact on nature, to understand the risk of inaction—and how acting now could create more business opportunities and security.”
— BRC, A Retailer’s Guide to Nature and Biodiversity

BRC's Role in This Shift

The BRC has already embedded biodiversity into its Sustainability Community and Climate Action Roadmap, including:

• Regenerative agriculture pilots
• Zero deforestation targets (2025–2030)
• Reporting against the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)
• Guidance on forest-risk supply chains

The Nature & Business Masterclass builds on this by offering a structured route into strategy development, disclosure, and risk assessment.

What The Masterclass Offers

You’ll get:

• A clear explanation of TNFD and Science-Based Targets for Nature (SBTN).
• Support to map your supply chain risks and nature dependencies.
• Tools to connect biodiversity action to your wider sustainability plans.
• Practical peer learning in a retail-only environment.

Delivered in partnership with Nature Positive, the session cuts through complexity and helps you move from concept to action.

📍 Attend the Nature & Business Masterclass – 11 September, The Form Rooms - Covent Garden.
Learn how to build a strategy that goes beyond carbon.