When the British Retail Consortium (BRC) launched the Climate Action Roadmap back in 2020, we set ourselves an ambitious goal: a net zero UK retail industry by 2040.
Today, we are publishing our 2025 Net Zero Stocktake Report. For the first time, we’ve been able to use a new industry-leading footprinting methodology underpinned by real-world data to provide a comprehensive assessment of UK retailer progress, barriers, and priorities on the road to net zero.
Despite powerful political, regulatory and financial headwinds and a tough business environment, progress has been made. Nearly all retailers in the survey accompanying the research (91%) now have a greenhouse gas emissions baseline in place, 90% of buildings are using LED lights, and 80% of fleets have adopted fuel efficiency programmes.
But the improved data quality shows that emissions are 11% higher now than what was measured in 2020, and the picture of progress across the wider value chain (where Scope 3 emissions from supply chains and customer use represents 93% of total emissions) is not that pretty.
Still work to be done
With only a third of top suppliers committing to net zero targets and providing emissions data, and only 30% of products having information for consumers on responsible sourcing, there is still a huge amount of work to be done to reduce emissions embedded in supply chains and consumers’ homes.
So frustratingly, progress is needed most where individual retailers hold the least direct control. Reducing supplier emissions and changing customer behaviour have proved hugely challenging and been held up by policy uncertainty, supply chain complexity, and tech limitations.
However, this should not, and cannot, deter. With individual retailers unable to tackle these challenges alone, the task now is clear: more radical collaboration across the value chain and beyond is more important than ever.
The climate emergency is no longer tomorrow’s problem; it’s here today, disrupting supply chains, driving shortages, increasing costs for households – and threatening the resilience of our industry. Retailers have a clear responsibility to act: retail products account for nearly one-third of household emissions, making retail one of the UK’s most carbon-intensive sectors.
The net zero reality check
But as one of the most influential industries shaping the economy, consumers, and global supply chains, UK retail also holds a unique power to drive this transition to net zero.
The lack of meaningful action across the value chain is a reality check. Without wholescale collaboration to drive radical change across retail’s vast value chain, more than 90% of UK retail emission reductions will remain a missed opportunity. Net zero is not just a climate goal, but an opportunity to build resilient supply chains, spark innovation and create long-term value for stakeholders.
The BRC will continue to support retailers to deliver this transformative change by convening cross-industry stakeholders, tracking annual progress, and shaping policy.
Retailers, suppliers, consumers, and policy-makers all need to take accountability for their role in supporting the industry to decarbonise. The BRC’s multi-stakeholder action plan identifies where this collaboration is needed most: the development of a standardised supply chain data framework, a tiered supplier decarbonisation programme, and a unified consumer engagement campaign on climate.
The latest UN COP summit in Belém closed with a clear message: collaboration is complex, but it is essential to achieving net zero.
This message rings true for the UK retail industry. To move from collective ambition to action, more radical collaboration across the retail industry must start now.
Helen Dickinson is CEO of the British Retail Consortium
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