The retail industry is leading action to build a better, more prosperous and sustainable world. 

Better Retail Better World is new initiative aiming to have collective action from the retail industry to meet the biggest global challenges of the coming decades, including modern slavery and decent work, sustainable economic growth, inequalities, climate change and responsible consumption and production. 

Using the widely recognised United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework, clear, transparent and measurable goals developed with businesses and campaigners are at the heart of Better Retail Better World. 

Put simply, this action will prevent people falling into the modern slavery trap by paying to get a job, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation and waste sent to landfill and provide more support for people from underrepresented demographics to progress in employment. 

This is the start of our journey to 2030, supporting the SDGs achieve global development. Our actions will be revised every two years to ensure Better Retail Better World takes account of a rapidly changing world. We have also developed two separate checklists for BRC members to go through several of the SDGs to see how they can identify, assess, and act on them. Click the button below to download - BRC Members only.


How retailers are taking action 

BRC members can become a signatory to Better Retail Better World by committing to five Goals and one target under each:

SDG 8: Decent Work & Economic Growth
  • We will collaborate to enhance employment and recruitment best practices through the BRC Retail 2020 campaign
  • For the supply chain, we will embed a policy that no worker should pay for a job, and identify other human rights issues so that by 2022 action to address these can be demonstrated
SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities 
  • We will publicly disclose how we are supporting people from underrepresented demographics enter and progress in employment 
  • We will engage customers either directly or working with others to empower citizens and reduce inequalities 
SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities 
  • We will publicly disclose our strategy for community engagement, investment, fundraising or volunteering 
  • We will publicly disclose our business’s climate change vulnerabilities/risks 
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production 
  • Reduce waste sent to landfill and ensure that all operational water usage is measured 
  • Progress responsible sourcing practices for key raw materials, to be ready to publicly disclose before 2022 
SDG 13: Climate Action 
  • We will reduce our business’s greenhouse gas emissions and, if applicable, increase our use of renewable energy 
  • We will collaborate to reduce deforestation, in order to have eliminated it by no later than 2030 



Come join Better Retail Better World to make a difference 

With the amount of scrutiny that customers are placing onto sustainability initiatives from retailers, it is now more important than ever to join up and promote collective action to combat big issues like climate change, modern slavery, and more.