Climate Action Roadmap 2025 Programme Update

After a thorough review of the Roadmap in 2024, we’ve been diligently focusing on how the Climate Action Roadmap programme can best support retailers, engage members, and drive impactful change into 2025.

Our 2025 Programme Update for the Climate Action Roadmap discussed the recommendations from last year’s review, the outcomes of a deep-dive into the milestones, and the ambitious programme plan aimed at helping members overcome barriers and accelerate decarbonisation in 2025.

You can find all information on the Climate Action Roadmap here, to learn more and find out how to get involved.

You can watch the webinar on demand here and access the slides from the presentation here.

Read on for a full summary of the review recommendations and programme updates for 2025.

1. Roadmap review recommendations 

Supporting Retailers

1. Double down on policy advocacy
2. Tailor for maturity / sub-sector
3. Join the dots to act as signpost, convener, and catalyst

Member Engagement

1. Tracking member progress, industry level progress, and milestone stocktakes
2. Community ownership of milestones
3. Diverse climate learning opportunities

Driving Impact

1. Maintain 2040 as industry ‘ambition’
2. Use Roadmap milestones to drive action
3. Nest Roadmap in BRC Sustainability agenda

2. Roadmap engagement myth-busting

“We’re keen to use the Climate Action Roadmap but we’re not BRC members."

• Roadmap website and webinar resources are open access to non-members!

“We’re not Roadmap ‘signatories’ so we can’t get involved.”

• All members are encouraged to support and engage with Roadmap activities, through our partner events, sub-sector peer groups, and key focus areas.

“We can’t support the Roadmap as we have different net zero targets.”

• The Roadmap is agnostic of individual retailer targets – 2040 is our industry ‘ambition’ to go further, faster, together towards a net zero UK retail sector.

3. 2025 programme

Pathway focus areas

Pathway 1: Data & Reporting

Key focus: Shared supplier data collection

Hypothesis: We think that standardising data collection across suppliers will allowing retailers and suppliers to communicate and record GHG data in a consistent manner, avoiding duplication across shared supply chains.

Activity: Data focus group

• 8 May (TBC): Peer discussion on SBTi / V2 consultation
• 22 May (TBC): Workshop 1: Validate hypothesis, use cases and existing platforms/initiatives across sub-sectors
• 17 July (TBC): Workshop 2: Evaluate existing initiatives to identify approach for adoption / creation of open standard

Pathway 2: Energy

Key focus: Gas transition plan

Hypothesis: We think that a focus on barriers to retailers’ transition from gas to low-carbon comfort/process heat will identify opportunities for collective action on a shared challenge.

Activity: Heat pump focus group

• 19 June (TBC): Joint workshop with Retail Energy Forum to identify opportunities and dependencies for collective retail on uptake of heat pumps

Pathway 3: Logistics

Key focus: LGV/HGV transition plan

Hypothesis: We think that by identifying the enabling milestones, timeframes and policy for both government and industry to meet government phase-out target dates, we will accelerate retail’s transition to electric LCV/HGV fleets.

Activity: Logistics focus group

• 21 May (TBC): Roundtable with Department for Transport
• 15 July (TBC): LCV workshop
• 17 September (TBC): HGV workshop
• 18 November (TBC): Infrastructure and energy supply workshop
• Create 1-4 year roadmap, identify required milestones, policy enablers and quantify retail’s impact potential

Pathway 4: Sourcing

Key focus: Deforestation data access

Hypothesis: We think that collective alignment on supplier deforestation data requests, along with structured learning resources and commodity-specific peer learning, will improve the ability and quality of reporting by retailers.

Activity: Nature & biodiversity mailing list and events

•  29 April & continuing monthly: EUDR Sprint Group
• 13 May: Nature Roundtable

Pathway 5: Lifestyles

Key focus: Sustainable diet position agreement

Hypothesis: We think that food industry alignment on a position for ‘sustainable diet’ will facilitate a level playing field for competition in low carbon food sales and for influencing consumer purchasing behaviour.

Activity: Sustainable diet update

• Engaged in IGD Transition Plan Workstream on Population Diet with AHDB, AIC, NFU
• Connecting dots between IGD/BRC Nutrition Working Group/BRC Mondra Coalition Nutrition Workstream
• 12 June (TBC): Food Net Zero Group – update on IGD Food System Change Leaders Forum – Diet Change Workstream

Register to join the focus groups, workshops and mailing lists here.

Peer-to-peer groups

24 April: Retailer Green Claims Forum: Unifying Marketing, Compliance and Sustainability Teams – Register here.

1 May (TBC): Textiles Net Zero Group

13 May (TBC): Platform Net Zero Group

12 June (TBC): Food Net Zero Group

Express your interest to join our peer-to-peer groups by contacting Tracey Banks.

Partner events

You can find all upcoming events hosted by our Roadmap partners here.

Policy goals

To engage and communicate with government on key issues for retail industry decarbonisation, we are developing a Climate Action Manifesto. More details, including how to feed into the Manifesto, will be released later this year.

Progress tracking

To track industry-level progress and inform our future programme focus areas for support, we are planning to introduce the following mechanisms in 2025. More information on how members can get involved will be released shortly.

• Milestone KPIs and 2030 targets
• Member progress segmentation
• UK Retail emissions assessment
• 2025 milestone stocktake