The British retail industry relies on nature as its most fundamental supplier. From coffee and cotton to timber and everyday essentials, retail depends on healthy soils, clean water, stable climate systems, thriving biodiversity and the natural resources that keep supply chains moving.
Yet, the system is under growing pressure. Over the past 50 years, monitored wildlife populations have fallen by an average of 73%, and the ecosystems that underpin the economy are rapidly deteriorating. As the climate and biodiversity crises intensify, retailers face escalating material, financial, legal, physical and reputational risks.
Layer on incoming UK and EU regulation, growing supply chain pressures and increased investor attention, now is the time to act on nature.
BRC Nature Positive Plan
The BRC Nature Positive Plan is here to help retailers take practical, confident and coordinated action to address nature loss and climate change together.
Designed in partnership with RSK Group and their subsidiaries, Nature Positive and ADAS, and with feedback from BRC members, this is the first nature-focused industry plan to drive targeted action on nature.
The Plan also builds on insights from the BRC Nature Maturity Assessment, which revealed the challenges many businesses face, including complexity, uncertainty and competing priorities, that have slowed progress to date. The BRC Nature Positive Plan tackles these barriers directly by offering retailers a flexible, accessible pathway to begin or accelerate action on nature.
The BRC Nature Positive Plan provides retailers with:
- A clear roadmap to prioritise actions across their value chains
- A benchmark to understand their progress relative to peers
- Alignment opportunities with existing sustainability and climate strategies
The BRC will support the implementation of the plan through its Plan for Nature events programme and supportive guidance. To find out more about how you can get involved, email sustainability@brc.org.uk.
“Halting nature and biodiversity loss is critical to the resilience of retail supply chains and the health of our planet. We are delighted to launch BRC’s Nature Positive Plan, alongside the BRC Climate Action Roadmap, to accelerate retail action on nature and help members reach their environmental goals.”
Our vision sets out what a nature-positive future for British retail could look like: ambitious but grounded in solutions and actions already being achieved today. For retailers, nature is not just a risk; it’s an opportunity to build value and resilience, and to gain competitive advantage.
