British Land announces new decarbonisation targets

New long term targets provide a clear pathway to 2050 and reinforce British Land’s commitment to creating efficient, resilient and low carbon places

British Land has announced new near and long term science-based emissions reduction targets, approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), reinforcing the company’s commitment to achieving net zero and providing a clear pathway to 2050.

The targets are aligned with a 1.5°C climate scenario and build on British Land's strong track record of reducing emissions across its portfolio and value chain. Recent record-breaking European heatwaves have highlighted the growing physical and financial risks of climate change – British Land’s continued momentum in implementing our 2030 strategy is ensuring our assets are resilience and fit for a low carbon future.

Under the new SBTi-approved targets, British Land has set longer term targets committing to:

• Reduce operational carbon intensity by 78% by 2035 and 97% by 2040; and
• Reduce absolute corporate emissions, including upfront embodied carbon from developments, refurbishments and the supply chain, by 46% by 2035 and 90% by 2050

Matthew Webster, Head of Sustainability at British Land, said: “Our SBTi-approved targets increase our ambition beyond 2030 and provide a robust framework for achieving deep emissions reductions across our portfolio and value chain. 

“We have already made significant progress and remain on track against our existing commitments; however, the scale of the challenge ahead is substantial and cannot be tackled by any one organisation alone. Decarbonising real estate is a sector-wide challenge that requires collaboration across owners, occupiers, developers, suppliers and policymakers. These targets provide a credible roadmap for the actions needed across the value chain and reinforce our commitment to playing our part in the transition to a low carbon and climate-resilient future."

Our new targets are aligned with the SBTi Buildings Criteria (version 1.1) and the SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard (version 2.0), providing an independently verified and science-based roadmap for reducing emissions across British Land's operations, developments and supply chain. British Land will be sharing its updated 2050 transition plan outlining how it is going to achieve its targets in Autumn 2026.

The targets are measured against a FY24 baseline and replace British Land's previous SBTi-approved 2030 targets. British Land has reduced operational carbon intensity across its managed portfolio by 47% and whole-building energy intensity by 24% since FY19.

Investors
Sean Pearcey-Stone, British Land
07505 782 198

Media
Harriet Scott, British Land
07977 572 190

About British Land

British Land is a UK commercial property company focused on real estate sectors with the strongest operational fundamentals: London campuses and retail parks. We own or manage a portfolio valued at £15.8bn (British Land share: £10.1bn) as at 31 March 2026.

Our purpose is to create and manage Places People Prefer – outstanding places that deliver positive outcomes for all our stakeholders on a long term, sustainable basis. We do this by leveraging our best in class platform and proven expertise in development, repositioning and active asset management.

Read more about us at www.britishland.com.

About the Science Based Targets initiative

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) is a corporate climate action organisation that enables companies and financial institutions worldwide to play their part in combating the climate crisis.

We develop standards, tools and guidance which allow companies to set greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions targets in line with what is needed to keep global heating below catastrophic levels and reach net-zero by 2050 at latest.

The SBTi is incorporated as a charity, with a subsidiary which will host our target validation services. Our partners are CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, the We Mean Business Coalition, the World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).