With BRC Climate Action Week 2024 coming to a close this week, now represents the perfect time for retailers to turn their attention to the other side of the climate crisis and climate action: the biodiversity crisis and nature-positive action. 

This month marks the launch of the BRC’s Plan for Nature 2024/25, an ongoing campaign and programme of events that aims to initiate retail’s journey towards comprehensive industry-wide action on nature and biodiversity.  

Year 1 of the BRC’s Plan for Nature programme aims to kickstart the retail industry’s journey towards achieving the ultimate goals of biodiversity net gain and full nature recovery by 2050, by supporting members to place nature-positive action at the heart of business strategies and operations. 

In our first year, we are beginning by helping to raise awareness and educate our members on the importance of nature and biodiversity, 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. 

For more information on why incorporating nature and biodiversity strategy matters to your business and to gain an overview of the current regulatory landscape, see our blog here. 

Below you can find an outline of what to expect so far from the Plan for Nature programme of events in 2024/25

Nature and Biodiversity for Retailers: An Introduction | Wednesday 16 October 2024, 11:00-12:00 | Online 

Supported by Nature Positive, ADAS and the RSK Group, this introductory webinar will seek to delve into and demystify the crucial material relationship between retailers and nature, unravelling why the nature space is just as important as climate to retailers. A thriving, stable, and biodiverse natural ecosystem underpins the current and future operation of every retailer. This webinar will explore impacts, challenges, risks, and opportunities related to nature, and will help us begin to understand how we can support members integrate nature-positive practices into your business. 

You can find more information on the webinar, including how to register, here. 

BRC Nature Day 2024 | Thursday 28 November 2024, 10:00-17:00 | In-person 

This all-day event, to feature a range of fireside chats and panel sessions with key partners and retailers, will begin 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.  

You can find more information on Nature Day 2024, including a full programme of events and how to register, here.

Roundtable: Barriers to Nature-Positive Business | TBC – April 2025 | In-person 

Senior sustainability professionals will be invited to this roundtable aiming to identify challenges and barriers to implementing nature strategy and the role that government can play in facilitating nature-positive action for retailers. 

More details to follow next year. 

Nature Maturity Assessment | TBC – 2025 

This benchmarking assessment will evaluate current progress on integrating nature and biodiversity and outline pathways for a comprehensive nature & biodiversity strategy in the future, to enable retailers to set targets and achieve key objectives in the nature and biodiversity space. 

More details to follow next year. 

more brc resources on nature & biodiversity

  • Our Retailer’s Guide to Nature and Biodiversity for Business provides an in-depth overview of the latest reporting frameworks and regulatory requirements for nature and biodiversity, to help you understand current nature-related policies and where to begin with your nature strategy. 
  • Our introductory webinar on nature and biodiversity with RSK and Nature Positive is a great starting point for learning about nature-related risks, impacts, dependencies, and opportunities for your business.
  • Our timeline outlines the UK regulatory landscape for nature and biodiversity for retailers until 2050, featuring key government goals and actions. 
  • Our guides on TNFD and SBTs for nature provide an essential introduction on these key reporting, disclosure and target-setting frameworks. 

We're here to support you where we can on your work on nature and biodiversity and to coordinate retail’s approach to reaching our goals on nature. For any queries, please contact our policy lead Sophie De Salis.