Burberry is pushing net zero back a decade as the luxury sector cools on climate pledges

Burberry has spent a decade on the urgency of its climate plan, becoming the latest FTSE 100 heavyweight to soften the green pledges that defined corporate Britain at the start of the decade.

In its annual report for 2025-26, the coat maker confirmed that it now expects to reach zero emissions “no later than” the 2049-50 financial year, a full decade later than the much-hyped 2039-40 deadline of 2021. At that time, the Riccardo Tisci-era of Burberry would be promised to “continue with the management team” by continuing with the management team. 2040 and to emphasize that it “helped protect our planet for future generations”.

Four years later, the language has become more sober. The Macclesfield-based group described the rewritten targets as a “realistic response to external factors”, while arguing that the new timetable still reflected its view of climate change as a “key risk” to business. Translation: The City wants a margin call, the supply chain isn’t decarbonizing as quickly as anyone had hoped, and Washington has stopped pretending to care.

From the outside to the herd

Burberry is by no means alone. Unilever, the owner of Dove and Marmite, has used its 2024 strategy reset to reduce a series of ethical commitments, including the pace at which it is freeing itself from unprecedented plastic. Nestlé left the Dairy Methane Action Alliance last year, taking the wind out of one of the food industry’s decarbonisation alliances. And the two London-listed oil majors, BP and Shell, have spent the past eighteen months choosing to target renewable energy in favor of consistent returns in barrels and cubic feet.

The political climate, of course, has changed with them. President Trump’s return to the White House has encouraged American peers to bring back ESG disclosure, and stock market investors – tired of paying a “virtue premium” for stocks that have left the index – are pushing UK boards in the same direction. As I argued recently in my column on why UK businesses should not be back to zero by 2026, the risk is that short-term accumulation on board papers at heavy costs when financial markets, customers and regulators inevitably pull back.

What does burberry say

In small words, Burberry insists that the revised goal takes into account “the recognized and considered speed and scale of decarbonisation” in the entire luxury industry and in the economy in which it operates. The group reiterated a near-term commitment to deliver “substantial reductions in air pollution” by 2030, a deadline that is within the current CEO’s tenure and remains broadly in line with the 1.5°C Science target.

For sustainability experts, that 2030 milestone is one to watch. The late stop date of 2050 is now table stakes; the test of loyalty is what happens over the next 1,825 days.

Schulman’s turn – and the £12.2m question

The rewriting of the climate took place during a critical transition under Joshua Schulman, who became CEO in 2024 and used aggressive marketing, sharp pricing and a no-nonsense return to British brand values ​​to steady the ship. Shares are up nearly 17 percent over the past twelve months, although they are still a long way from the 2023 peaks.

Schulman’s reward for the recovery, revealed in the annual report, is a new long-term incentive scheme that could increase his net worth to £12.2 million over the coming years, subject to price and performance constraints. Coming on the same page as a promise of milder weather, the optics are uneasy – especially for investors who remember that Burberry recently warned it would cut 1,700 jobs in a global cost-savings campaign amid a wider luxury downturn.

The SME angle

There’s a long-tail story here for the small and medium-sized firms that make up Burberry’s supplier base, as well as the wider FTSE 100 ecosystem. If a leading brand extends its decarbonisation route, Scope 3’s pressure on tier two and tier three suppliers is eased – at least on paper. In fact, the regulatory ratchet is moving in the other direction, given the UK’s Continuous Reporting Standards from this financial year. As we have previously flagged, SMEs are facing a wide zero-to-zero classification as the 2026 reporting rules approach, and businesses mistaking the music of the company’s soft status to get permission to stop investment may find themselves locked out of the supply chain between the two reporting cycles.

For now, Burberry’s message to the City is straightforward: ambitious, yes, but on terms the market – and the share price – can live with. Whether that proves pragmatism or shortsightedness will be judged not in 2050, but before the next general election.