Update on BRC's Plan For Nature 2024/25
As we enter the second half of the BRC's Plan for Nature 24/25, here's a summary of our progress and upcoming activities for this year.
PLAN FOR NATURE SO FAR
In our first year, we are focusing on raising awareness on the importance of nature and biodiversity in retail, helping our members identify key barriers to nature-positive action faced by retailers, and engage with members and key stakeholders to begin to enable solutions that will catalyse retailer’s nature strategies.
To deliver our Plan for Nature, we’ve proudly partnered with RSK Group. This partnership kicked off with two events:
- Nature and Biodiversity for Retailers: An Introduction (October 2024)
Supported by Nature Positive, ADAS and the RSK Group, this introductory webinar explored impacts, challenges, risks, and opportunities related to nature. Find out how you can start integrating nature-positive practices into your business – watch the webinar back HERE.
- BRC Nature Day 2024 (November 2024)
This all-day event featured a range of fireside chats and panel sessions with key partners and retailers. Together, we began to map out where and how retailers should begin to incorporate nature and biodiversity into their strategy and operations, and how to align with existing work in the climate and decarbonisation space. Read the event summary HERE.
Additional activities:
- BRC’s EUDR Sprint Group
As members prepare for upcoming EU Deforestation regulation (EUDR), the BRC has been supporting members with its EUDR Sprint Group, a series of member-led sessions to iron out compliance challenges and forge alignment on how to approach the legislation. Read our Draft BRC FAQs HERE.
- Supporting Resources
We’ve linked up with the Green Finance Initiative (GFI) to provide some helpful resources:
COMING UP
We’ll be in touch with how to register soon but save the date for the following events and activities.
- SAVE THE DATE – EUDR Sprint Group Webinar and Workshop, 5th & 6th March 2025
BRC will be hosting a webinar (half-day, Wednesday 5th March) and workshop (all day, Thursday 6th March) that will cover where we are with EUDR, the draft BRC FAQs and aligning supplier information requests.
- SAVE THE DATE – Roundtable: Delivering a Nature-Positive Business, Tuesday 13th May
This meeting will explore how to measure your nature impacts and begin the conversation on the alignment needed before approaching suppliers to start collecting biodiversity data. More details tbc.
- COMING SOON – Nature Maturing Assessment & setting BRC’s Plan for Nature year 2 strategy
BRC are looking to do a benchmarking assessment to evaluate current progress on integrating nature and biodiversity. The outcomes will inform our future nature & biodiversity strategy, to enable retailers to set targets and achieve key objectives in the nature and biodiversity space. More details tbc.
IN OTHER NEWS
- Timber Expert Panel – January 2025
Last week, BRC attended the OPSS Timber Expert Panel. The event covered updates on the enforcement of UK Timber Regulations, insight into current legal and provenance challenges (e.g. Russian timber). We also heard from Defra on the current status of UK Forest Risk Commodity regulations and EUDR – unfortunately, it is still a wait and see and we will be updated in due course. Download the slides HERE.
