www.ethicalconsumer.org EC174 Sept/Oct 2018 £4.25

The world’s going electric! Why electric bikes & cars are the future for carbon-free transport

Product guides to: Bikes, Cars and Restaurants

Plus: Badger cull campaign latest, What is a regenerative business? Recycled Paper and Green 6MÄJL:\WWSPLZ*H[HSVN\L www.greenstat.co.uk Your opportunity to own a share of a NEW COMMUNITY WIND TURBINE near Lampeter

If you are 16 or over you can apply for between £100* and £100,000 in shares and could earn an average annual return of 5% over 20 years (*see full terms on website).

To find out more and to download your own copy of the Share Offer Document please visit www.grannellcoop.org.uk or email [email protected] or call 01743 835 243

Grannell Community Energy is a Community Benefit Society. Registration number: 7447

Studio One 114 Walcot Street Bath BA1 5BG Tel: 01225 480556 Fax: 01225 481211 Email: [email protected]

1 Image credit: Carmarthenshire Energy Carmarthenshire credit: Image

RecyclingCatalogue_aw13.indd 1 12/11/2017 22:11

CAPITAL AT RISK. INVESTMENTS ARE LONG TERM AND MAY NOT abundanceinvestment.com BE READILY REALISABLE. ABUNDANCE IS AUTHORISED AND REGULATED BY THE FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY (525432).

YOU WANT: YOU DON’T WANT: To create To create pollution a nest egg

Investments for people exactly like you (although some drink flat whites) Editorial ethicalconsumer.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

Josie Wexler Editor

Electric cars and bikes are fast In general, being involved in the liquid fuels game inevitably means being involved with a very repellent approaching industry. You can’t, it seems, stop petrol from stinking. This issue is primarily focused on transport, where electric vehicles have been picking up speed, and are Ethical Consumer Conference 2018 now fully geared up to drive us out of the oil age. Ethical Consumer’s conference this year is on Electric cars hold the key to many things beyond Innovations in Ethical Consumption – new ideas, themselves. They have a particularly symbiotic systems and ways of working that will enable us to think relationship with wind power, because they can be differently. charged at night when there is little electricity demand. Speakers confirmed so far include: Having a big fleet of electric cars ready to drink up the night wind makes it viable to put a lot more wind • Andy Goldring – CEO of the Permaculture turbines on the grid, as it does away with the danger of Association night electricity just having to be dumped. • Kate Sandle – Community Manager at B-Corps They have also helped to raise up their baby sister: the • Brhmie Balaram – Senior Researcher on the electric bike, which has piggy-backed on the amazing Economy, Enterprise and Manufacturing at the RSA improvements they have brought about in battery technology. As we discuss in our guide, electric bikes are Come and join us at 10:00am – 6:00pm on Friday now becoming a serious form of transport. October 12th, at the Amnesty International Resource Centre in Shoreditch, London. Petrol and diesel You can buy tickets at www.ethicalconsumer.org/ aboutus/conference2018. Early bird tickets cost £19, plus If all of the environmental reasons not to buy a petrol the booking fee, and include lunch. car weren’t enough, there are plenty more issues with the oil industry. Our accompanying online guide to petrol Badgers crowdfunder pulled and diesel suppliers – which we also summarise in this magazine – paints a wretched picture. We didn’t feel that In last magazine’s editorial we announced a 6 week we could recommend any of them. crowdfunder to fund a cartoon competition linking the badger cull to the Red Tractor logo. The winning And then there are the problems with biofuels, which cartoons were to be used in the forthcoming campaign are obligatorily mixed into petrol and diesel in the EU. against the cull. About a third of the EU’s biodiesel comes from palm oil. This is not so in the UK, where only a negligible However, we were almost immediately contacted by amount comes from palm, as we have more stringent lawyers acting for the Red Tractor, threatening libel sustainability criteria than many other EU countries.1 action. We took our own legal advice, and were told that we would be in danger of incurring substantial However, what we do domestically does not seem to costs if we went ahead, so we decided, sadly, that we be in tune with what we do at the EU level. While a had to pull it and refund the donors. We now intend ban on palm-based biofuels from 2020 is on the table to run a different campaign against the cull. For more in Brussels, the UK government has refused to say if information, see page 46. it supports it. The Ministry of Defence has apparently pushed for us to oppose it on the basis that it might References: 1 Department for Transport, 2018, Renewable Transport Fuel 2 Obligation statistics 2 www.independent.co.uk/environment/palm-oil- otherwise endanger our arms sales to Malaysia. malaysia-arms-deal-eurofighter-typhoon-biofuel-biodiesel-a8342211

 Two Strap Sandal (Pewter)

Panther Hemp (Black)

Pimlico Shoe (Black)

Bush Boot Slim (Brown

Bonobo Boot (Cherry)

Over 150 mens & womens styles: Casual, Formal, Sport, Leisure, Work, Hiking, Dress, Fashion, Sandals, Belts & Accessories Quality ‘breathable’ non-leather materials made in England & Europe Order direct: www.vegshoes.com Tel: 01273 691913 | [email protected] A treat for your feet if you don’t eat meat!

Windows Doors Insulation Airtightness MVHR Passivhaus

low energy homes

Make your home warm, comfortable and energy efficient, with products and technical expertise from Green Building Store.

Green building information hub Beautiful and inspiring Passivhaus and low energy projects ® www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk

tel: 01484 461705 www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk Pioneers in low energy building since 1995

g b s knitting cat ad ethical consumer 91x137mm feb 2016 FINALp.indd 2 2/2/16 17:21:23 Contents ethicalconsumer.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

who’s who p22 product guides this Issue’s editors Josie Wexler cars proofing Ciara Maginness (littlebluepencil.co.uk) writers/researchers Jane Turner, Tim Hunt, Leonie 10 introduction Nimmo, Rob Harrison, Heather Webb, Anna Clayton, Joanna Long, Josie Wexler, Ruth Strange, Mackenzie 13 lower impact cars Denyer, Clare Carlile, Francesca de la Torre 15 top 30 greenest cars regular contributors Simon Birch, Bryony Moore, Shaun Fensom, Colin Birch 16 score table & Best Buys design and layout Adele Armistead (Moonloft), Jane Turner 18 electric car charging cover Adele Armistead (Moonloft), background image 20 doing without a car © Kran Kanthawong | Dreamstime.com cartoons Marc Roberts, Andy Vine, Richard Liptrot bicycles ad sales Simon Birch subscriptions Elizabeth Chater, Francesca Thomas 22 the greenest bikes press enquiries Simon Birch, Tim Hunt p38 enquiries Heather Webb 24 score table & Best Buys web editor Georgina Rawes thanks also to Eleanor Boyce, Josh Wittingham, electric bikes Jess Aurie 28 score table & Best Buys All material correct one month before cover date and © Ethical Consumer Research Association Ltd. ISSN restaurants 0955 8608. 32 low wages and stolen tips Printed with vegetable ink by RAP Spiderweb Ltd, 33 children’s menus c/o the Commercial Centre, Clowes Centre, Hollinwood, Oldham OL9 7LY. 0161 947 3700. 34 score table & Best Buys Paper: 100% post-consumer waste, chlorine-free and sourced from the only UK paper merchant supplying 36 sustainable menus? only recycled papers – Paperback (www.paperbackpaper.co.uk). features

Retail distribution is handled by Central Books on 0845 458 9911. Ethical Consumer is a member of INK news 40 regenerative businesses (independent news collective), an association of radical what would a regenerative and alternative publishers - www.ink.uk.com. 06 food & home business look like? Bayer-Monsanto merger, my 46 badger campaign We are a Living Wage employer, a multi-stakeholder vegan town, new Best Buys co-op, and Fair Tax Mark accredited. dump dairy and save the badger 08 clothes mohair, Detox, burned stock p40 09 boycotts about the advertisers Amazon, illegal settlements 31 beyond consumerism ECRA checks out advertisers before accepting their ads and reserves the right to refuse any advert. bike fixing ‘kitchens’ Covered in previous Product Guides: Co-operative 38 climate phone & broadband (145), Kingfisher Toothpaste (165), dark decisions in the uk, ireland Vegetarian Shoes (162), Windmill Organics (166). Other advertisers: Abundance, Green Building Store, divests from carbon Grannell Community Energy, Green Business, Infinity 39 ethical novice Wholefoods, Investing Ethically, Womankind. the trials and tribulations or choosing a car Ethical Consumer Research 43 fair tax mark regulars Association Ltd Fair Tax fortnight and seven new Unit 21, 41 Old Birley Street, Manchester, M15 5RF accreditations 48 subscriptions t: 0161 226 2929 (12 noon-6pm) e: [email protected] for general enquiries 44 money take out a subscription or give a [email protected] for subscriptions. Barclays funding tar sands, Stop gift that lasts a year Funding Hate success 49 letters 45 save our bank a regular forum for readers’ views Follow us: @EC_magazine latest news about the Co-op Bank 50 inside view Ethical Consumer Magazine can we replace cars with bikes?

 Food and Home SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org

The Bayer-Monsanto megacorp The takeover of Monsanto by Bayer is now complete and the world’s most powerful agribusiness has been created. Friends of the Earth Europe called the merger a “marriage made in hell”. The Monsanto company name, which has become synonymous with genetically modified food, having been a longstanding target of environmental activists, will disappear in an apparent bid to protect corporate reputation. Bayer will be the megacorp’s company name. Monsanto was also responsible for the deadly herbicide Agent Orange, used by the US in the Vietnam war. It also sells Roundup, a glyphosate pesticide. The International Agency for of the Earth Europe Friends Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as a probable of democracy and unequal access to land, water and other human carcinogen in 2015, which Monsanto strenuously resources, especially for women. To avoid the absolute control denies. A former groundskeeper in California is the first of the global food supply by a few companies, money should be individual to take Monsanto to court alleging that it has spent invested heavily in grassroots farming”. decades hiding the cancer-causing dangers of Roundup. Some “The European Commission has completely failed to European countries are trying to get glyphosate banned. prevent the corporate dominance of agriculture by a small Bayer itself is a manufacturer of bee-killing pesticides number of agribusiness companies. With this recent round – neonicotinoids – some of which are banned in the EU. of mega-mergers there are now fewer companies controlling Friends of the Earth has run a long campaign to try to prevent our agriculture which is bad news for farmers and consumers the takeover, which it warned would “increase control over and creates an even bigger lobby towards more intensive and farmers and cut out competitors, and allow it to become the nature-destroying industrial farming.” dominant ‘Facebook of farming’.” Three companies now control up to 70% of the world’s “Feeding a growing world population is a long-term trend, agrochemicals and more than 60% of commercial seeds, and we want to contribute to its solution,” said Bayer chief according to Friends of the Earth Europe. Recently, US chemical executive Werner Baumann. company Dow merged with chemical rival DuPont, and Adrian Bebb, Senior Food Campaigner for Friends of the ChemChina has bought massive Swiss seed and gene group Earth Europe said that the mergers have little to do with solving Syngenta. world hunger. “Research consistently demonstrates that world Bayer’s consumer brands are Feminax, Rennie, Germolene hunger is not a problem of supply, but rather of poverty, lack and Alka Seltzer.

Guide updates My vegan town The ‘My Vegan Town’ website from animal charity Viva! Jackson’s bread simplifies finding vegan-friendly places to eat, shop and stay. With hundreds of business listings in the UK alone, the days of Following our guide to Bread in the last issue of the settling for a side of chips are over. And by keeping an eye on magazine, William Jackson Group (Jackson’s brand) got in the events calendar you’ll never miss a festival near you, or be touch with us with its latest palm oil policy which meant caught with a placard but no protest. that it now scores a best rating, not a worst. 100% of its palm oil is now RSPO certified. The website allows any vegan-friendly business owner to create a free listing to showcase their business. Visit the website The brand is now one of the better scoring mainstream and check it out for yourself – www.myvegantown.org.uk brands, alongside Warburtons. Neal’s Yard New Best Buy Label companies Best Buy toiletries company Neal’s Yard contacted us about The following companies have recently applied for, and been their rating for Environmental Reporting. When we last awarded, our Best Buy Label, after being given Best Buy status covered it in the Fragrances guide in Issue 170, it received in our recent money guides: a worst rating in this category largely because it did not • Charity Bank – Best Buy for savings accounts and cash ISAs. have dated and quantified targets for improvement in its environmental performance. But now it has given us new • Monzo – Best Buy for app-based banking. information with targets, which means that it now gets a • Dolma Perfumes – Best Buy for fragrances. middle rating. These companies can now use the logo on their m nsu er The only thing stopping it getting a best rating was that only o .o products and services. It brings the number c r l g its carbon emissions data was externally verified, not all its a of accredited companies to 35. See all the

c

i

h

t companies – www.ethicalconsumer.org/ data. e Y BES T BU shoppingethically/bestbuylabel

 Food and Home ethicalconsumer.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

Supermarket news No supermarket is currently adequately addressing the ways The summer has seen a plethora of new reports about that the supermarket model supermarkets – one looking at ready meals, another on causes food waste in the home how they are dealing with food waste and a third looking due to: at the human suffering in supermarket supply chains. • Confusing, over-cautious and unnecessary ‘best before’ Ready Meals – ready in minutes, but not ready for the date labels. future • Marketing strategies that Eating Better, an alliance of more than 50 organisations, encourage over-purchase e.g. surveyed 1,350 ready meals from UK supermarkets and found ‘two-for-one’ offers. that not only was the availability of vegetarian/plant-based This report is a challenge to choices limited, but they were often sold at premium prices and, supermarkets to show us that with meat dishes, the provenance was not always clear. they can be part of a less Meat was the main ingredient in 77% of the own-brand and wasteful food system. branded ready meals from 10 retailers (Asda, Aldi, The Co-op, Read the full report – Iceland, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco https://feedbackglobal.org/2018/06/food-waste-ranking and Waitrose). Overall, only 3% of ready meals were vegan, with Tesco, Ripe for change Waitrose and Sainsbury’s offering the largest number. No vegan A new report assessing the supply chain policies of six major options were found in Iceland and only one in M&S. UK supermarkets launches Oxfam’s campaign to expose the Startlingly, only three retailers (M&S, Waitrose and The Co- economic exploitation faced by millions of small‑scale farmers op) include meat sourced for their own-brand ready meals in and workers in food supply chains, and to mobilise the power of their farm animal welfare policies. While retailers are generally people around the world to help end it. keen to promote the provenance and quality of their fresh meat, Supermarket supply chains span the globe while, at the end the research found that this didn’t apply to meat used as an of the chain, the bargaining power of small‑scale farmers and ingredient in ready meals. Nearly 30% of meat-based ready workers has been steadily eroded. meals did not indicate the country of origin of their meat. The In the EU, just ten supermarkets account for over half of all Co-op and Waitrose were the only retailers found to use British food retail sales, a dominance which gives them significant meat in all of their own-brand ready meals. power to shape food production around the world. Read the full report – http://bit.ly/EB2018repreadymeals The extra investment needed to make it possible for farmers Food waste and workers to earn a living income is marginal compared with the end consumer price – no more than 5% across our basket of Food poverty charity, Feedback, has ranked the UK’s top ten 12 products. supermarkets on their work to reduce food waste. The ranking Companies can also give preference to business models, like assessed the supermarkets’ publicly available data against the co-operatives and employee-owned businesses, that deliver food-use hierarchy, which requires prevention to be the priority. better outcomes for producers and workers. Tesco is ranked at number one, while Waitrose came out at the bottom, although it did not perform dramatically worse than See the full report: https://indepth.oxfam.org.uk/behind-the-price most other retailers. Other supermarkets known for their strong reputations on sustainability, including Co-op and Marks & Spencer, also scored poorly. The ranking assessed the supermarkets against four categories of best practice in addressing waste. The categories were: • action to prevent food waste, such as measuring and publishing data and adopting targets; • action to make sure that edible surplus food reaches people in need through charities, rather than being thrown away; • action to redirect suitable inedible food surplus to be made into animal feed; • action to avoid edible food being used to produce biogas instead of being eaten. The survey found that large quantities of edible food, nearly 20,000 tonnes in 2017, were being used to produce biogas Alliance Indonesia. Sustainable Seafood Mulya/The Adrian © rather than feed people. In addition, very few supermarkets Oxfam and the Sustainable Seafood Alliance Indonesia examined the working conditions in prawn processing plants and exporters in were found to be making best use of inedible food waste, some Thailand and Indonesia respectively, which supply some of the biggest of which can be made into animal feed. supermarkets in world.

 Clothes SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org

ASOS to ban silk, • Cashmere is the hair taken from the not acceptable for animals to suffer undercoat of a cashmere goat in the name of fashion or cosmetics. cashmere and mohair • Silk is the fibre that silkworms weave ASOS is committed to working with to make cocoons industry expert groups to support the ASOS has updated its animal ongoing research, development and • Down feathers are the feathers which welfare policy and will stop implementation of animal welfare are typically closer to a bird’s skin. stocking products containing standards and transparency in the They come from ducks and geese feathers, silk, cashmere and mohair leather supply chain.” by the end of January 2019. which are often plucked while they are still alive. ASOS has already banned fur, angora Circular design PETA supports the move stating that, and other rabbit hair, and products Additionally, a week after announcing “Consumers are changing the face which use materials from its pledge to ban animal-derived of the industry by demanding that vulnerable animals. products, ASOS is launching an designers and retailers offer clothing What products does this initiative to educate its designers and accessories that look beautiful include? on sustainability. The pilot training without harming animals.” • Mohair is a fibre programme is in partnership with the This announcement from used in clothing London College of Fashion’s Centre for ASOS comes after Zara, H&M and such as sweaters, Sustainable Fashion (CSF). 15 of ASOS’s Topshop all pledged to stop using hats and other core design team will work with experts mohair last month. fluffy accessories from the CSF team on circular design. and comes from ASOS’s policy states, The pilot will then be refined and rolled angora goats. “ASOS firmly believes it is out across all ASOS design departments.

Progress made in detoxing the • 72% report having achieved the complete elimination of per- and polyfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) from products, clothing industry while the remaining 28% are making good progress towards elimination. A new report from Greenpeace Germany reveals how 80 fashion brands, who have “While we are extremely happy to see the progress of Detox companies towards cleaning up their all committed to cutting out hazardous supply chains, 85% of the textile industry is still not chemicals in production by 2020, have doing enough to eliminate hazardous chemicals achieved significant progress. and improve factory working conditions. This is In 2011, Greenpeace launched its Detox unacceptable. It is time for policy-makers to step campaign, aimed at selected brands across fashion, in and make Detox a worldwide standard,” added sportswear, luxury and retailers that make up 15% Kirsten Brodde, Greenpeace Germany’s project of global clothing production, asking them to stop lead of the Detox-my-Fashion campaign. using hazardous chemicals. Brands that pledged Read the full report at www.greenpeace.org/ to phase out these toxic chemicals include Nike, international/publication/17612/destination-zero Adidas, H&M, Inditex, Burberry, Primark and Levi’s. Bunny McDiarmid, Executive Director of Greenpeace International stated: “We have made great progress in phasing Burberry burns unwanted stock out hazardous chemicals that pollute our waterways and environment – there has been a major paradigm shift in the The BBC has reported that luxury brand Burberry clothing industry triggered by the Detox campaign, which now destroyed unsold clothes, accessories and perfume takes responsibility for their production instead of just their worth £28.6m last year. Burberry and other upmarket products”. fashion brands destroy unwanted stock to prevent them being stolen or sold cheaply. Key findings in the report: Burberry has now destroyed over £90m worth of goods All Detox-committed brands are tackling the elimination in the past five years. According to Burberry the energy of the 11 priority groups of hazardous chemicals identified generated from burning its products has been captured, by Greenpeace and regularly report on their presence in which it says makes it ‘environmentally friendly’. wastewater from suppliers’ mills, while a large majority have Burberry is not the only brand throwing away a surplus started adding more substances to the list: of luxury items. Richemont, which owns Cartier and • 72% of Detox-committed brands are working towards Montblanc, has had to buy back £430m worth of watches disclosing their suppliers lists down to Tier2/Tier3 wet over the last two years. Analysts say some parts of those processing, where the biggest use of chemicals and most watches can be recycled but much is just thrown away. water pollution occurs. Most advanced brands intend to Lu Yen Roloff of Greenpeace claims that the waste is the expand this approach to fibre production, and address the ‘dirty secret of the fashion industry. Burberry is just the tip of growing use of viscose. the iceberg’.

 Boycotts ethicalconsumer.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

Amazon Prime Day met with and time off during pregnancy. Italian workers accuse Amazon of routinely hiring contract workers who aren’t given any of the boycotts and strikes usual employee benefits. Amazon’s 36 hours of sales were Strikers also accuse the company of met with boycotts and strikes led by transferring operations to nations with less active trade unions.1 Polish workers workers across Europe. claimed that an anti-strike law had made The ‘retail sales holiday’, which is it impossible to negotiate better salaries. intended to celebrate Amazon’s founding In Spain, Amazon is said to have been in July each year, is now the company’s chipping away at previous benefits ever most successful annual event. Last year since a collective bargaining agreement customers ordered 34 million items, or expired in 2016. German strikers 398 items per second. continued calls for a collective bargaining But this year, the event was marked agreement, which the company has by boycott calls, in solidarity with those ignored for the last two years. on strike. 2,500 Amazon employees Some of the strikes ended in clashes in Germany, 1,800 in Spain and many with local police. more in the UK, Italy, Poland and France, “While the online giant gets rich, walked-out over the one-and-a-half-day it is saving money on the health of its period. workers”, a spokeswoman for the German Each strike made different demands, services union Verdi said, in a statement but all highlighted Amazon’s poor Make Amazon Pay is a campaign to make Amazon improve workers’ rights in Europe on its website. treatment of its workers. In England and – makeamazonpay.org Boycott calls also spread across social France, Amazon is said to have placed media, and consumers made their own gruelling targets on time efficiency, meaning that workers have website to show support for the Amazon workers. “Our best to process 300 items an hour, without a chance for toilet breaks. shot at a real change in Amazon’s behaviour is to join together Amazon is also said to have imposed penalties for sick days with the workers in Spain and all over the world.”2

Irish Senate vote to ban goods from illegal Israeli settlements The Irish Senate have voted on a bill that will ban the import of goods from the Palestinian occupied territories. If the bill, approved by the Ireland-Palestine Campaign Solidarity Senate in July, passes Ireland’s lower house it will set a precedent within the EU. The Act will prohibit “trade with and economic support for illegal settlements in territories deemed occupied under international law”, which would make Ireland the first EU country to introduce a national boycott of Israeli-settlement goods. Although the value of Israeli- Demonstrators at the Great Return March demo in Gaza thank Ireland for the vote. At the settlement imports to Ireland is estimated demo Palestinian civilians demanded their right to return to their homeland. at just €500,000 to €1million, supporters of the bill say it could “We can criticise all we want, but years of empty rhetoric pave the way for other EU countries to follow suit. simply have not worked. As long as we buy their produce and The bill does not name Israel but instead refers to “occupying they stay profitable, nothing will change. powers” and “illegal settlements” – both terms that the Israeli “How can we condemn the settlements as ‘unambiguously settlements fulfil under UN law. It will not prohibit goods from illegal’, as theft of land and resources, but happily buy the legitimate Israeli territories. proceeds of this crime?” The bill was originally sponsored by Independent Senator Four of Ireland’s leading development and human rights Frances Black, who said in a statement following the vote: organisations, Trócaire, Christian Aid Ireland, Sadaka and the “Trade in settlement goods sustains injustice. Global Legal Action Network, have also backed the bill.

References: 1 https://makeamazonpay.org/en/2018/05/17/call-to-all-amazon-workers-in-europe-in-july-a-european-strike, viewed 18 July 2 http://www.amazonstrike. com, viewed 18 July

 Product Cars GUIDE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org An end in sight for fossil-fuelled motoring

Fine particle air pollution is responsible for 29,000 early deaths a year. The effect of the toxic gas nitrogen

dioxide (NO2) brings the figure up

Firends of the Earth Firends to 40,000 a year.

Rob Harrison reports on how governments are finally moving against the poisonous impacts of diesel and the climate impacts of petrol.

few months after our last Cars station and Professor Holgate found that and diesel. It is as if the weight of evidence guide was published, in 2015, spikes in air pollution had coincided against inadequately regulated motoring the ‘dieselgate scandal’ erupted with all but one of Ella’s emergency has simply been too much for even the A 1 in the USA. VW ended up receiving one admissions. Her death came after one of best-funded corporate lobbyists to hold of the largest fines in corporate history the worst pollution episodes and, although back any longer (though their influence (around $30 billion) for fitting now publicly known, is unlikely to be remains substantial – see box out on page ‘defeat devices’ in its unique. 12).

diesel cars to cheat US NO2 pollution, which is government pollution produced largely by diesel tests. A mainstream vehicles, causes 5,900 early Countries banning fossil-fuelled global business with, deaths every year in London, cars (petrol and diesel) ironically, a reputation and it took only five days for for good sustainability Brixton Road in London to Ban to commence In the near future/some reporting, was caught break its NO2 limits for the China out deliberately whole of 2017.2 Schoolchildren models already banned choosing to prioritise in Beijing commonly wear Britain 2040 company profits over human air pollution masks on the way France 2040 life. to school and the World Health An aspirational target that all In June this year, Professor Holgate, Organisation now estimates that one in India cars sold should be electric a UK pollution scientist, managed, for eight of total global deaths are linked to air by 2030 the first time, to put a name and a face to pollution exposure making it the world’s By 2025 – all vehicles sold 3 Norway someone the motor industry had killed. largest single environmental health risk. should be zero emission Ella Kissi-Debrah was a 9-year-old girl Ireland 2030 who lived just 25 metres from London’s Targets for phase out South Circular road. She had been Israel 2030 admitted to hospital 28 times before dying Since dieselgate, there has been a sea- Netherlands 2030 change in government responses to the in 2013 from acute respiratory failure. Taiwan 2040 issue. People are moving first against the Ella’s house was also just one mile away Scotland 2032 from a government pollution monitoring poisonous impacts of diesel and then against the climate impacts of both petrol

10 Cars Product SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org GUIDE

Electric ambition and diesel phase-out dates

Score An end in sight for Score Companies Electric ambition Diesel phase-out out TOTAL out of 5 of 5 Tesla Only Electric now 5 Already none 5 10 All new models Hybrid or Electric from fossil-fuelled motoring Volvo 4 From 2019 4 8 2019 50% Electric by 2025 Toyota/Lexus 50% Electric or Hybrid by 2030 3 By end 2018 4 7 All new models Hybrid or Electric from Jaguar Land Rover 4 From 2020 3 7 2020 Nissan 50% Electric or Hybrid by 2025 3 Will be phased out 1 4

Honda 60% Electric or Hybrid by 2025 3 No plans yet 0 3

BMW/Mini 20% Electric or Hybrid by 2025 2 No plans yet 0 2

VW Group 25% Electric by 2025 2 No plans yet 0 2

Fiat Chrysler Half of models Electric by 2022 0 By 2022 2 2 Peugeot/Citroen/ Electric version of all models by 2025 1 No plans yet 0 1 Vauxhall Mercedes Electric version of all models by 2022 1 No plans yet 0 1

Ford Some models by 2022 0 No plans yet 0 0

Hyundai/Kia Some models by 2020 0 No plans yet 0 0

Mazda Some models by 2019 0 No plans yet 0 0

© Jakub Gojda | Dreamstime.com © Jakub Suzuki No targets 0 No plans yet 0 0

Source: Data from Greenpeace 20189 with some Ethical Consumer additions. Ethical Consumer scoring added to show best (5) to worst (0).

The table opposite shows how some The future’s electric with the phase-out of diesel, it is clear that major economies have announced that, some car manufacturers are embracing from a variety of dates in the future, all As we noted in our last cars guide in 2015, this change more enthusiastically than new cars sold must be electric or ‘zero the future is now clearly one of electric others. The table above combines emission’. Most environmental campaign vehicles powered by a 100% renewable Greenpeace research with an Ethical groups argue that 2040 is too late, and energy grid. And it is the emergence of Consumer score to identify the companies WWF and the Green Alliance have electric vehicles as a viable replacement with the most ambitious policies towards published a compelling document making technology which has been key to giving all-electric offerings. Performance on this a social and economic case for the UK governments the confidence to draw a line table has also influenced our best buy phase out date to be moved forward to under petrol and diesel. Nevertheless, as advice for cars on page 17. 2030.5 New cars can now last for around 14 years before they need replacing, so it looks like it will be well after 2050 when they really become museum pieces in most countries.4 In the last issue of the magazine, we noted many companies setting ambitious targets far off into the future and how, without constant vigilance, it is not uncommon to see such targets slip. Nevertheless, when we look at how much has changed in the last three years, it is hugely encouraging to see clear(ish) shared goals and ambitions spreading so fast around the world. More needs to be done, particularly around electrifying larger buses and trucks, but it is encouraging nonetheless. A Nissan Leaf showing the electric battery under the floor.

11 Product Cars GUIDE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org

Diesel falls off a cliff Following the dieselgate scandal, UK sales of diesel cars have fallen by 17% since 2017 and by 37% comparing March 2018 with March 2017.7 With regulators no longer convinced by the promises of cleaner diesel, a range of tools are now being employed to discourage its use. Key amongst these are low emission zones inside big cities and the ‘Cities’ table below charts their spread. There is a corporate responsibility issue here too, and the table on the previous page shows which have most enthusiastically embraced the idea that diesel is a technology of the past. The two biggest car companies in the world, Toyota and VW, sit on opposite sides in the debate which is why much of Greenpeace’s energy in this space is now targeting VW. © Gordon Welters / Greenpeace Welters © Gordon In 2015, 50 Greenpeace volunteers protested against the high fuel consumption of the new Volkswagen Golf VII, during its official launch Cities banning or restricting diesel or the most by VW at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. polluting cars Ban or restriction from... Central London Higher fees already Aberdeen, Bath, Birmingham, Proposed clean air and low The power of the car industry Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Derby, emission zones planning Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, to charge fees from 2020. lobby Manchester, Oxford, Reading, (Source: 8) Sheffield, Southampton, Warrington The car industry spends €15 to 20 million a year on Progressive ban from 2019 lobbying just one regulator – the EU in Brussels. For this, it Milan 5 – no diesel from 2025 employs more than 100 full-time lobbyists. The European Parliament’s own ‘Dieselgate Report’ noted that the European Aachen, Hamburg and Stuttgart From 2019 Commission “lacked the political will and decisiveness Rome 2024 to [...] give priority to the protection of public health of Paris 2025 citizens” over the economic interests of the car industry in 6 Mexico City 2025 the years preceding the scandal. And although there has been a change in rhetoric by Madrid 2025 governments, noted above, VW particularly continues to Brussels 2030 argue for diesel and has become the target of campaigns by Greenpeace and others as a result. And in 2017, two years after the scandal, meetings on cars between the German government and external organisations were listed as follows: with the car industry and its lobbyists 325; with trades unions 90; with environmental organisations 21.6

The power of the car industry lobby makes scandal inevitable.

At our Ethical Consumer conference on Challenging Corporate Power in 2017, we noted how mandatory lobby registers and publication of meetings were an important step in trying to regain control. It was also noted how a ban on all lobbying by some industries (like tobacco) had been introduced in some jurisdictions. It looks like there are compelling reasons for extending this idea to the car industry’s lobbyists. According to campaigners Corporate Europe Observatory, The proposed clean air zone signs for Leeds. “the power of the car industry lobby makes scandal inevitable.”

References Viewed 15/7/18: 1 www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5915281/Schoolgirls-death-asthma-directly-linked-London-air-pollution.html 2 www.theguardian.com/ environment/2017/jan/06/london-breaches-toxic-air-pollution-limit-for-2017-in-just-five-days 3 www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/air-pollution/en/ 4 https:// www.smmt.co.uk/industry-topics/sustainability/average-vehicle-age 5 www.businessgreen.com/bg/news-analysis/3028715/report-phasing-out-fossil-fuel-cars-by-2030- could-deliver-gbp3bn-boost-to-uk 6 https://corporateeurope.org/power-lobbies/2015/09/power-car-industry-lobby-makes-scandal-inevitable 6. https://corporateeurope. org/power-lobbies/2017/09/two-years-after-dieselgate-car-industry-still-drives-berlin-and-brussels 7 www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43655703 8 www.buyacar.co.uk/cars/ economical-cars/523/clean-air-zones-where-are-britains-low-emission-zones 9 www.greenpeace.org.uk/car-companies-compare-driving-us-towards-cleaner-greener-future

12 Cars Product SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org GUIDE Buying a lower impact car

It has never been more important to drive less, drive better and opt for a low-impact car, as Joanna Long finds out.

As well as being a leading cause of premature deaths from pollution (see page 10), transport is now the largest greenhouse gas-emitting sector in the UK, accounting for nearly a third of total emissions. Car use accounts for 15% of those emissions and the figures are on the rise with the absolute amount rising by 2.1% in 2016. The Committee on Climate Change attributed the 2016 increase in car emissions to both an increase in the number of kilometres driven and an increase in the average CO2 intensity of cars.1 Given the need for everyone to be reducing their impacts by around 2% per year to limit climate change, it has never been more important for individuals to drive less, drive better and opt for a lower- impact car. emissions.5 They do cost more though, be expensive, even after government Electric cars and there are still issues with the distance grants, although prices are coming down. While these present some of their own they can travel before recharges (see The price quoted on the table is after the ethical problems – especially with regards table on page 15). But they have become application of grants. Their newness also to the raw materials practical options means that there are fewer second-hand used in the batteries for increasing models available at lower prices, although (see 19) – many The World Health Organisation numbers of as the electric car market grows so will consumers are people. We look the resale market. You can search for used now seriously has declared outdoor air at ‘charging your electric cars on Next Green Car. considering the pollution, including particulate electric car’ and the purchase of electric matter and also diesel exhaust, spread of charging Hybrid cars cars. According infrastructure in a to a survey in July carcinogenic to humans, in the separate article on Although hybrid cars are at least as expensive as electric cars, they do 2018 by the motor strongest class, the same class page 18. group AA, half of As the table solve the problem of distance between young people in as tobacco. overleaf shows, charges for those who want to reduce the UK would like electric cars can motoring impacts but need a longer to own an electric car.2 By the end of 2017, plug-in cars as a proportion of total UK registrations had only reached 2.9%, but the overall market for hybrid and electric cars has grown by 156% in four years.3 Improvements in technology and a broadening of the range of models available (now over 90) from virtually all the major manufacturers should see this portion of the market continue to grow over the coming years. Electric cars outperform most other models environmentally with recent research suggesting that, on average, they will emit half the CO2 emissions of a diesel car by 2030, including the manufacturing

13 Product Cars GUIDE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org

In 2017, Greenpeace activists displayed a banner on a 23,498- tonne car carrier in the Thames Estuary bringing Volkswagen

© Kristian Buus / Greenpeace diesel cars into the UK.

range. Although they still have a petrol three diesel cars make it into the top 30 maintenance costs (as the engines are engine on board, many people see them greenest cars table, we are continuing not simpler and help brake the car, saving as a useful intermediate technology until to recommend them as an ethical option. on brake pads) are a key part of this charging infrastructure and car technology Recent research from campaigners has calculation. improves to make pure electric practical suggested that over the full life cycle of for everyone. Next Green Car ratings There are two main types of hybrid car. • The old-style of hybrid uses batteries With more than 500 car models on the to give lower fuel consumption, but There are approximately 12 market at any given time, it is beyond the resources of Ethical Consumer to doesn’t really have a ‘range’ it can travel million diesel cars on the road on battery alone. Three models make it assess the comparative impacts of each. onto the top 30 greenest cars table. in the UK at the moment. Fortunately, the UK’s www.nextgreencar. • PHEV stands for plug-in hybrid electric com website publishes high quality, in- vehicle and there are six models in the depth and frequently updated information top thirty table. They can be recharged manufacture, fuel refining and biodiesel on just this subject. from ordinary mains electricity like a impacts, diesel cars actually emit more Their database covers both new and 6 second-hand models and it should pure electric car and can usually travel CO2 than petrol. around 30-40 miles on battery alone. definitely be part of anyone’s information Although almost all current hybrids mix Lifetime cost gathering if they are looking to take petrol engines with electric motors, there environmental issues into account when are a couple of models of diesel electric Although some of the greenest cars look buying a car. As in the last Cars guide, we hybrids appearing on the market. For expensive for new buyers, new research have been given permission to use Next the reasons stated below, we would not in the UK, US and Japan has shown that, Green Car’s data to populate the table recommend them. over a four-year period, pure electric opposite with some information on the 30 cars are already cheaper to own and run ‘greenest’ car models as of July 2018. than petrol or diesel cars.4 The lower The ‘Next Green Car’ rating is a bit like The problem with costs of electricity over petrol and lower our Ethiscore and expresses a vehicle’s diesel environmental impact as a score ranging from 0 for the greenest vehicles to 100+ As we mention in the article ‘An end for the most polluting. The score takes in sight for fossil-fuelled motoring’ on into account the three main greenhouse page 10, the dieselgate scandal means gases (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and that environmental campaigners, and methane) as well as local pollution such now many governments, are no longer as carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, convinced by the promises of ‘clean diesel’. particulates and sulphur dioxide. The The continuing failure of diesel engines to impacts associated with the vehicle’s meet pollution standards under real world manufacture and fuelling are included, not driving conditions also mean that some just the real-world tail-pipe emissions. manufacturers are beginning to announce As you can see from the table, the top phase-out dates for diesel from their 13 are either electric or ‘PHEV’ (plug in entire passenger car ranges. So, although

© Angela Glienicke / Greenpeace Angela Glienicke © hybrids).

14 Cars Product SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org GUIDE

Top 30 greenest cars (ranked by Next Green Car rating, from 0 for the greenest vehicles)

Official Real Electric New Purchase Next Green Manufacturer Model Fuel Real MPG CO Vehicle Range 2 Price £ Car rating (g/km) (miles)

VW e-Up! Electric 172.8 0 74 21,140 18.9

Smart fortwo coupe EQ Electric 156.7 0 79 16,695 19.3

Smart fortwo cabrio EQ Electric 155.5 0 77 18,560 19.6

Hyundai IONIQ Electric Electric 175.8 0 140 25,345 19.7

Smart forfour EQ Electric 154.3 0 77 16,915 20.1

BMW i3 Electric 154.3 0 149 29,575 20.8

VW e-Golf Electric 159.2 0 149 28,230 21.6

BMW i3s Electric 141.4 0 139 27,980 22.2

Renault Zoe Electric 138.5 0 184 19,170 23.2

BMW i3 REX PHEV 331.5 13 117 28,225 23.4

Nissan LEAF Electric 138.5 0 188 25,190 23.6

BMW i3s REX PHEV 331.5 14 110 31,130 23.7

Nissan e-NV200 Combi Electric 122.5 0 139 25,468 25.5

Suzuki Celerio Petrol 57.8 84 N/A 10,249 28.4

Kia Soul EV Electric 101 0 106 25,995 29.2

Skoda Citigo Petrol 54.9 96 N/A 8,860 29.7

Fiat 500 Petrol 55.2 88 N/A 14,765 30.0

Renault Clio Diesel 64.1 82 N/A 16,250 30.1

Fiat 500C Petrol 55.2 88 N/A 17,415 30.2

Toyota Yaris Hybrid 56.6 84 N/A 16,575 30.3

Fiat Panda Petrol 55.5 95 N/A 12,270 30.4

Toyota Prius Hybrid 61 78 N/A 24,245 30.8

Nissan Micra Diesel 61.8 85 N/A 15,090 30.9

Renault Twingo Petrol 52.6 95 N/A 11,815 30.9

Hyundai IONIQ Hybrid Hybrid 60.2 79 N/A 25,345 31.0

Prius Plug-In Toyota PHEV 199.3 28 30 29,195 31.2 Hybrid

VW Golf GTE PHEV 117 38 25 28,600 31.3

IONIQ Plug-In Hyundai PHEV 180.8 26 31 25,345 31.5 Hybrid

DS DS 3 Diesel 60.4 87 N/A 18,170 31.5

A3 Sportback Audi PHEV 117 38 24 33,965 31.5 e-tron

Source: www.nextgreencar.com

References viewed 16/7/18: 1 Reducing UK emissions: 2018 Progress Report to Parliament, Committee on Climate Change, June 2018 2 www.bbc.co.uk/news/science- environment-44798135 3 www.nextgreencar.com/electric-cars/statistics 4. www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/01/electric-cars-already-cheaper-to-own- and-run-than-petrol-or-diesel-study 5 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/25/electric-cars-emit-50-less-greenhouse-gas-than-diesel-study-finds 6 www. irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/researchers-say-diesel-worse-for-co2-than-petrol-1.3224258

15 Product Cars GUIDE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org

Environment Animals People Politics +ve USING THE TABLES USING THE TABLES Ethiscore: the higher Positive ratings (+ve): the score, the better the • Company Ethos: company across the criticism = full mark, categories. e = half mark. H = worst rating, E h = middle rating, • Product Sustainability: empty = best rating Maximum of five positive (no criticisms). marks.

BRAND (out of 20) Ethiscore Reporting Environmental Climate Change Toxics & Pollution Habitats & Resources Oil Palm Testing Animal Farming Factory Animal Rights Human Rights Rights Workers’ Supply Chain Management Irresponsible Marketing Arms & Military Supply Technologies Controversial Call Boycott Activity Political Anti-Social Finance Ethos Company Product Sustainability COMPANY GROUP Suzuki 8.5 h h H H h H H Suzuki Motor Corp Citroen, DS 8 h h H H h H h H Groupe PSA Mazda 8 h h h H h H H H Mazda Motor Corp Opel 8 h h H H h H h H Groupe PSA Peugeot 8 h h H H h H h H Groupe PSA

Tesla (electric models only) 8 HH h h H H h H E Tesla Motors Vauxhall 8 h h H H h H h H Groupe PSA Volvo 6.5 h h h H h H H H h H Mr Li Shu Fu Honda 6 h H h H h H h H h H h Honda Motor Co Alfa Romeo 5.5 h H h h H H H H HH Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Chrysler 5.5 h H h h H H H H HH Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Fiat 5.5 h H h h H H H H HH Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Jeep 5.5 h H h h H H H H HH Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Lancia 5.5 h H h h H H H H HH Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Maserati 5.5 h H h h H H H H HH Fiat Chrysler Automobiles BMW 5 h H H H h H h H h HH Bayerische Motoren Werke Infiniti 5 h h H H h H H H h HH Nissan Motor/Renault Jaguar 5 h H h H h H H H H h H Tata Motors Land Rover 5 h H h H h H H H H h H Tata Motors Mercedes-Benz, smart 5 h h H H h H h H h h H H Daimler Mini 5 h H H H h H h H h HH Bayerische Motoren Werke Nissan 5 h h H H h H H H h HH Nissan Motor/Renault Range Rover 5 h H h H h H H H H h H Tata Motors Rolls Royce 5 h H H H h H h H h HH Bayerische Motoren Werke Ford 4.5 h H H h H H H H h H H Ford Motor Kia 4.5 H h H H h H H H H h H Kia Motors Lexus 4.5 H h h h H H H H H H H Toyota Motor Mitsubishi 4.5 H h H H h H H H h H H Nissan/Mitsubishi Motors Renault, Dacia 4.5 H h H H h H H H h HH Groupe Renault Toyota 4.5 H h h h H H H H H H H Toyota Motor Cadillac 4 h H H h h H H H H h H H General Motors Chevrolet 4 h H H h h H H H H h H H General Motors Audi 3 hHHH H hHhHhH HH Volkswagen Bentley 3 hHHH H hHhHhH HH Volkswagen Bugatti 3 hHHH H hHhHhH HH Volkswagen Hyundai 3 H h H H h H H H h H h H H Hyundai Motor Lamborghini 3 hHHH H hHhHhH HH Volkswagen SEAT 3 hHHH H hHhHhH HH Volkswagen Skoda 3 hHHH H hHhHhH HH Volkswagen Volkswagen 3 hHHH H hHhHhH HH Volkswagen

See all the research behind these ratings on www.ethicalconsumer.org. For definitions of all the categories go to www.ethicalconsumer.org/subscriberarea

16 Cars Product SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org GUIDE

Choosing an ethical car RECOMMENDED To be ‘Recommended’, we looked Heather Webb asks whether any car companies stand for companies which had policies on diesel phase-out and fleet out as more or less ethical than the others. electrification (see p11), and at least one model on the top 30 The table opposite gives Ethical Consumer to have shown a reasonable understanding greenest cars table. Because of the ratings for all the major petrol, diesel, of their environmental impacts, Ethical huge environmental impact of hybrid and electric car brands in the Consumer required them to have targets motoring, we have prioritised these UK. All the companies on the table have on these commitments. Toyota and Fiat environmental metrics above our own Ethiscores of 8.5 or below. In other words, Chrysler were the only two companies not corporate responsibility rankings for they are in our ‘heavily criticised’ class. The to lose marks, since they both had these best buys in this sector. size of business you need to manufacture and also met the other criteria for Ethical a car means that there are no small, niche, Consumer’s best ranking, such as having 5 ethical producers in this market. their reports independently verified. Carbon footprint Climate change All car companies (except Tesla) lose marks Exhaust-pipe emissions only account for under Ethical Consumer’s climate change part of a car’s overall carbon footprint, category for their role in selling products albeit a large part (around 73%). that emit CO . Several companies also Manufacturing the car, as well as extracting 2 lose marks for other activities in the wider Pure electric cars: Nissan’s Leaf and and processing the fuel contribute around group: Honda for example is involved e-NV200 Combi (an MPV) models 10% and 17% respectively. in aviation, and Toyota owns a company are best against these measures. Car manufacturers are some of the which is involved in the oil and gas energy Tesla also scores relatively well world’s largest companies and biggest sector. across most of our analyses (including greenhouse gas emitters, which means they conflict minerals) but, costing at least bear a particular responsibility to reduce Pollution and animal rights £65,000, they are out of the price their carbon emissions by the required 2% range of most of our readers. per year in order to limit climate change to The emissions scandal to date has 2° Celsius. But according to a recent report implicated many of the companies on the Hybrids: Toyota’s Prius PHEV is best by the Carbon Disclosure Project, very table and therefore many of them now across these metrics. few of them are managing this.2 The table score worst in the pollution and toxics below shows the eight car manufacturers category. All the companies also pick up Petrol: The Fiat 500C and Panda featured in the report, their change in additional marks under Pollution and both appear in the top 30 table. emissions, and position in the report, best Toxics, and Animal Rights categories for Suzuki’s Celerio model, though to worst. using leather in car interiors. without key policies, scores best on Change in GHG Workers’ rights in supply chains our Ethiscore table and highest of the Global 100 Company emissions between petrol cars on the green models table. position 2014 and 2015 Last time we looked at the car industry, all the companies in the report scored a Toyota 20 -2% Where these models don’t meet your worst rating in Supply Chain Management. particular needs, we recommend GM 22 +8% This time, one company, Groupe PSA, looking at the nextgreencar.com VW 24 -3% has received a middle rating. None of the website for more detail on the many Honda 29 +2% companies’ policies mentioned payment other models available from these of a living wage or restricting working Audi 51 +34% manufacturers. hours to 48 hours plus 12 hours overtime Nissan 64 -2% per week, just as they didn’t when we last Ford 87 0 looked at the car industry in 2015. Fiat Chrysler 94 +22% Tax avoidance BRANDS TO AVOID Score table highlights Tax avoidance in the car industry appears Greenpeace are currently targeting to be rife with all but six of the companies Volkswagen (which also owns the Environmental reporting – Suzuki, Mazda, Honda, Kia, Hyundai Skoda, SEAT and Audi brands) as and Toyota – featured in the car report the largest car manufacturer still We have already seen (on page 10-11) scoring worst for likely use of tax avoidance supporting diesel technology in 2018. how companies are performing against strategies. two key ethical issues of the moment: Arms and military supply there are still close relations with the their commitments to phase out diesel military in many countries – this shows up and their ambitions to convert all their Whilst there is now much less state in the Arms and Military Supply column models to electric. In order for companies ownership in this sector than in the past, on the tables.

17 Product Electric cars GUIDE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org Charging up your electric car

If we’re serious about phasing out fossil fuels, Joanna Long explains how pure electric vehicles charged from renewable energy are the way to go.

A Nissan e-NV200 charging at an Ecotricity charge point.

Obviously, if you’re using an electric vehicle your electricity usage will increase, Not having off-street parking for home- connection and meter, we only work with so you’ll want to buy your electricity from charging isn’t the barrier it once was, as 100% renewable energy providers. There a company that is as ethical as possible. the availability of public charging points are, however, some sites in the network As we detailed in our guide to is increasing. There are also grants for that are connected to the property’s electricity suppliers, the effect of buying councils and workplaces to install charging existing power source, in which case our from a company that officially sells ‘100% points, which could mean you never have host controls the supply along with the renewable electricity’ is quite complicated to charge at home. rest of the premises.” The company was and not as big as you might hope, as all of unable to give specifics but said that Tesla our electricity comes from the same grid, Using public charge “would support a renewable energy policy and the renewables on it were largely all for hosts [if they didn’t already have one].” built as a result of the same government points Different networks have different incentives. When charging on a public network, you payment schemes. Some are pay-as-you- At the same time, there are a few have less control over the supplier. There go, possibly with set charges (connection companies such as Ecotricity and Good are six national charging networks, three of fee, price per time, price per energy Energy that are doing something extra to which use electricity from companies that consumed, or a combination of all three). help build renewables, and they are worth help to build renewables: Ecotricity, Zero Others have ‘free’ charging as part of a supporting. Carbon World (Good Energy), and Tesla. (paid-for) membership scheme. Most Yet it is important not to get the There is a fourth: Chargemaster, which networks do require you to have an impression that it doesn’t matter how officially uses electricity from renewables account before you can use their charging much electricity you use just because it is that were built by others as a result of points. ‘100% renewable’, (unless of course you government mandates. Chargemaster is are charging from your own renewably about to be bought by BP.5 Finding a public generated system). Using extra electricity The Charge Your Car network, which can still result in more fossil fuels being also provides infrastructure to regional charge point burned, it will just be allocated to schemes such as Energise, GMEV, Source If charging at home isn’t an option someone else’s account. Thus, no matter West and ChargePlace Scotland, uses and/or you want to know if there’s a who your supplier is, always buy the electricity supplied by Ovo, which also good network of charging points within smallest and most efficient car that will does not build its own renewables, but your regular orbit, visit www.zap-map. meet your needs. 33% of its electricity officially comes from com. Developed by Next Green Car, it has Our guide to energy suppliers renewables built as a result of government the latest information on where to find is available on our website at www. mandates. your nearest charging point, including, ethicalconsumer.org/buyersguides/energy/ Ethical Consumer contacted Pod Point crucially, whether it is available to use. greenelectricitysuppliers. It’s generally and Tesla to find out about the official At the time of writing, there were nearly OK to charge from an ordinary three pin sources of their electricity. Although 17,000 connectors at 5,900 locations plug, although some attention needs to be no response was received from Pod around the country, with more connectors paid to cables, and faster chargers can be Point, Tesla got back to us, saying that, being added every day. installed too. “In Europe, where Tesla controls the

18 Electric cars Product SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org GUIDE

The provision isn’t spread evenly across mandatory in 2017. You plausible to do long journeys the UK. Urban areas are, unsurprisingly, can look up whether the in electric vehicles. More better served than rural ones: some service stations on your information is on the London boroughs have charging points route have EV charging zapmap. every 0.1 mile, while in Devon the average points and, importantly, distance to a charging point is 45 miles. find out which company References: 5 BP to add electric According to the Energy Saving Trust, the supplies the electricity using car charging points to UK petrol average driver in England is four miles motorwayservicesonline. stations this year, The Independent, 28 June 2018, viewed 6 July 2018 from a charging point, in Scotland it is co.uk 6 ‘Lack of contribution to renewable three miles and in Wales it is 12 miles.7 Charging points also have energy development’ May 2017, Ethical If you’re planning a longer journey, different speeds. While the slower Consumer database 7 Lack of models, not charging fear not. Electric vehicle charging points chargers take many hours, rapid charging points, ‘holding back electric car market’, www. theguardian.com 27 February 2018, viewed 6 July were widely available at motorway service stations can now charge to 80% battery 2018 8 www.tesla.com, viewed 6 July 2018 9 www. stations long before they were made capacity in 30 minutes, which makes it gov.uk/plug-in-car-van-grants, viewed 6 July 2018

The progress report says: “As a group, the companies in the electric vehicle sector are lagging behind their counterparts Conflict minerals in the computer, communication and consumer electronics sectors when it comes to due diligence over their cobalt supply Today electronics form an essential part of a car. Drivers chains. Only one company surveyed has made explicit reference are now reliant on their cars’ computers for safety and to cobalt as a material requiring particular due diligence, even maintenance, and futurologists tell us that cars will increasingly though many of the rest are already following the OECD be shaped by the developments in the ‘Internet of Things’.1 Guidance for their 3TG [other conflict minerals] supply chains. None are disclosing the identities of their cobalt smelters/ This means that car manufacturers are now one of the refiners, as required under international standards. Though biggest consumers of elements commonly known as ‘Conflict many companies have joined industry-led joint initiatives to Minerals’. Conflict minerals are defined as being tin, tungsten, address risks associated with cobalt and other raw materials, tantalum and gold which have been mined in the Democratic none is currently disclosing specific risks or abuses identified Republic of Congo (DRC) and surrounding areas. The mining in connection with their supply chains. In light of the amount of these minerals has been implicated in the financing of no of cobalt the companies in this sector are expected to consume, fewer than 27 conflicts within Africa.2 much more action is urgently needed.”5 Car companies’ conflict minerals policies Amnesty assessed company practices according to five criteria that reflect international standards, including the There has been a lot of focus on electronics companies with requirement that companies carry out ‘due diligence’ checks regards to conflict minerals, yet the automotive industry has on their supply chain and the requirement that they are received very little scrutiny from civil society. While nearly all transparent about the associated human rights risks. The the companies mentioned the issue of conflict minerals in their organisation gave each company a rating of ‘no action’, public reports, the industry seems to be very slow in reacting ‘minimum’, ‘moderate’ or ‘adequate’ for each criterion. to the pressure needed to ensure minerals sourced are conflict free. Progress of the car companies featured in Amnesty’s report: Of the 20 companies covered in this guide that we rated on their conflict minerals policies: • only Tesla and Ford received our best rating, BMW Tesla • Toyota, General Motors and FiatChrysler scored middle • the remaining companies all received a worst rating. Use of cobalt in batteries Daimler FiatChrysler Cobalt is needed to create lithium-ion batteries, and over half 3 of the world’s cobalt supply comes from the DRC. Although it General Motors VW is not currently considered a conflict mineral, cobalt mining in the DRC has been linked to dangerous and unhealthy working conditions, deaths and widespread child labour. As a result, a Renault Group minimum number of human rights organisations are now pushing for it moderate no action to be added to the list of minerals included in the Dodd-Frank Section 1502 Conflict Minerals Rule.4 References viewed 13/7/18: 1 www.gtai.de/GTAI/Content/EN/Invest/_ In November 2017, Amnesty International released a new SharedDocs/Downloads/GTAI/Fact-sheets/MET/fact-sheet-automotive- report called ‘Time to Recharge’, looking at companies’ sourcing electronics-en.pdf?v=5 2 www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/ policies for cobalt from the DRC. It assesses the progress that may/21/european-parliament-tougher-measures-conflict-minerals 3 www. 28 companies likely to be buying cobalt from the DRC have theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/29/electric-cars-battery-manufacturing- cobalt-mining 4 www.sourceintelligence.com/3tg-just-starting-point- made since the risk of child labour was revealed to them in supply-chain-investigation 5 www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ January 2016. AFR6273952017ENGLISH.PDF

19 Product Cars GUIDE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org

Breaking up with Big Oil What to do? Activists are fighting back in old ways and new ones. In January 2018, Richmond became the eighth Californian city If you weren’t already convinced that a move away from in less than a year to take the major fossil fuel companies to petrol and diesel is needed, our online guide covering the court. You can sign a petition to support Friends of the Earth major oil companies should leave you in no doubt. Netherlands, who are taking Shell to court for not doing It includes an update on Shell in Nigeria, where campaigners enough to combat climate change, at www.foei.org/news/ against oil pollution were executed by the government in climate_litigation_Shell the 1990’s, and communities affected by decades of oil spills As a consumer, your options are limited. At least half of the continue to live amongst severe contamination. fuel in the UK is sold by ExxonMobil (Esso), Royal Dutch It also looks at how the companies have been busy lobbying Shell, BP, Chevron (Texaco), and Phillips 66 (Jet). None of against public policy to combat climate change. Exxon, Shell, these are good options. The provenance of the rest (sold by BP, Chevron and ConocoPhillips (from which Phillips 66 (Jet) supermarkets and independents) is not known. spun off) are all members of the International Association However, ExxonMobil does stand out as one to avoid, of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP), one of a number of trade particularly due to its funding of climate misinformation associations that pressured the EU for “the removal or phasing and lies. Over the past few decades it has given around $35 out of renewable energy and energy efficiency targets, and of million to dozens of right wing think tanks that have pumped individual national support schemes for renewables”.1 out huge amounts of climate denier nonsense. It has also While the World Bank has said it will stop financing new oil funded US politicians who don’t believe in the science. 18 of and gas projects in 2019, oil and gas companies themselves the 22 senators who sent a letter to President Trump urging are planning to grow in these areas wherever they can. What’s him to abandon the Paris Agreement collectively received more, all of the oil majors are involved to various extents in $371,000 from ExxonMobil between 2011 and 2016. extreme fossil fuels such as tar sands, which have a carbon Ultimately, we need to shift away from fossil fuels. Read our intensity (the amount of carbon dioxide (CO ) emitted to 2 online guide to find out more – www.ethicalconsumer.org/ produce a barrel of oil) three times greater than conventional buyersguides/traveltransport/petroldiesel oil production. Investments in renewables are pretty token, at about 3% of total investments. BP made a big song and dance about its renewable investments in the early years of this century, and References: 1 www.psi.org.uk/pdf/2015/PSI%20Report_Lobbying%20by%20Tra then almost entirely pulled out. de%20Associations%20on%20EU%20Climate%20Policy.pdf Doing without a car

Car sharing The last time we reviewed the car industry in issue 155, we noted that, “traffic jams, lack of urban parking spaces, high maintenance costs and reduced job security are starting to make car ownership less appealing, especially within inner-city areas”. As a result, car clubs and car sharing schemes have started to appear in most major European cities. In London, for example, there are several competing The image versus the reality. back-to-base car hire schemes including the same period, more than 250,000 Zipcar, Ubeeqo, Co-Wheels and Drive privately owned cars had been sold by The AA estimates that just owning a car Now. These all offer members a chance club members who have adopted vehicle in the UK costs between £2,000 and £9,500 to hire cars by the hour – often with fuel sharing. per year when capital costs, petrol, tyres, included. servicing, parts, parking, tolls, depreciation, Carplus, an independent charity road tax, insurance and breakdown cover which monitors the car-sharing industry, Transport blending is included. If a person no longer owns reported that in the past 10 years there Another idea which was raised in our a car then this budget is freed up to be has been a 765% growth in car club previous guide was ‘transport blending’. reallocated to the travel options available membership across the UK, from 32,000 The term ‘travel blending’ first arose in that suit us best. This means that between members in 2007-8 to more than 245,000 the late 1990s in the lead up to the Sydney £40 and £180 per week could be available members in 2016-17, using more than Olympics, in a bid to improve local air to spend on a mixture of public transport, 4,000 cars. It also reported that during quality. cycling, walking, car clubs and taxis.

20 Cars Product SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org GUIDE

union ads. It was also reported that it had required workers to Companies behind the brands regularly attend anti-union roundtable group meetings, as well Tesla Motors was founded in 2003 by a group of engineers as one-on-one meetings with their direct supervisors, “some of in Silicon Valley who wanted to prove that electric cars could whom have worn ‘vote no’ T-shirts to work”.2 be better than petrol-powered cars. In its first 15 years, the In March 2018, it was reported that Nissan and Renault were company has grown at an incredible rate: vehicle production considering merging to form a new company. The two firms increased 58% in 2017 alone, to over 80,000. In 2014, Musk formed an alliance in 1999, and describe it as a “buffer to announced that Tesla Motors would open up its patents to allow protect its partners during regional downturns”.3 The Alliance the future development of electric cars. – which also includes Mitsubishi – became the largest car maker, ahead of Volkswagen, in 2016. According to Bloomberg, the groups are now in discussions about a possible merger that would create a single new company, trading as one stock. It was reported that Carlos Ghosn, the chairman of both companies, is driving the negotiations and would run the combined entity.4 Currently, Renault owns 43% of Nissan, while Nissan has a 15% return stake in Renault. Nissan owns a 34% stake in Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi Motors admitted, in April 2016, that some of its The company has created a network of chargers across popular employees had falsified fuel economy data on at least 625,000 routes in North America, Europe and Asia. vehicles.5 It later admitted that its history of improper testing goes back 25 years. According to The Verge, “Mitsubishi’s fuel Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk also co-founded PayPal economy tests deviated from Japanese standards from 1991 and SpaceX, which, in 2012, sent the first commercial vehicle onward. Specifically, the company neglected to update how it to the International Space Station. conducted coasting tests, in which a car slows to a standstill to In 2017, Tesla acquired SolarCity, which manufactures solar measure its air resistance and drag”.6 panels. The Suzuki Motor Corporation arose out of a silk loom Unfortunately, Tesla’s perfect image has been tainted in recent company founded in 1909 by Michio Suzuki in Hamamatsu. years. Class actions in the US accuse the company of racial After several decades building weaving looms for Japan’s giant discrimination in its factories. Other employees have sued for silk industry Michio Suzuki decided to diversify the company age and gender discrimination. The company has also been into cars. And in 1990 the Suzuki Loom Works changed its locked in an ongoing dispute with the Union of Automobile name to Suzuki Motor Corporation. Workers, which accuses Tesla of In July 2017, a Dutch watchdog penalising workers for UAW membership. stated that Suzuki may have violated In March 2018, the company was also emissions rules and that they were fined $139,000 for spewing dangerous investigating possible misuse of vehicle levels of nitrogen oxides into the air at its emissions software by the company. Fremont factory. The investigation was prompted after Nissan Motors, through the Nissan- the Dutch road authority (RDW) found Renault-Mitsubishi alliance, is the world’s that the Suzuki Vitara models produced largest manufacturer of electric cars. unacceptably high levels of toxic emissions during road tests. The RDW’s In August 2017, The Guardian reported investigation was centred on nitrogen that Nissan workers in Canton, oxide emission levels in diesel cars Mississippi, had voted against unionising that appeared much higher than legally 1 by a margin of 2,244 to 1,307. This allowed during road driving rather than followed a 14-year battle by the Union of under laboratory test conditions. Automobile Workers to represent workers at the Nissan production site. Groupe PSA shareholders include the French state as well as the Chinese In response to the vote, Nissan was state-owned enterprise, Dongfeng Motor decried as carrying out one of the Corporation. In 2017, the company announced its acquisition “nastiest anti-union campaigns” in modern US history. It was of a majority interest in the Opel and Vauxhall subsidiaries of said that Nissan managers held one-on-one sessions with General Motors.7 workers to discourage them and blitzed local media with anti-

References: 1 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/05/mississippi-nissan-workers-vote-against-union 2 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/01/nissan- mississippi-union-vote 3 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/nissan-renault-merger-talks-new-car-company-a8279026.html 4 https://www.bloomberg. com/news/articles/2018-03-29/nissan-renault-are-said-in-talks-to-merge-create-new-company 5 https://www.ft.com/content/b0ede3a6-06c5-11e6-a70d-4e39ac32c284 6 https://www.theverge.com/2016/4/27/11516438/mitsubishi-fuel-cheating-25-years 7 https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/vauxhall-PSA-Group-takeover

21 Product Bicycles GUIDE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org Bicycology

Do bike manufacturers live up to the bicycle’s potential? Anna Clayton explores.

ycling as a mode of transport is of environmental and social potholes, What is the greenest always preferable to a car from including air pollution, climate chaos, the Can environmental perspective, as obesity epidemic and poor mental health. bike of them all? “the bicycle’s Green House Gas (GHG) And yet only 34% of UK consumers Of the 57% of the UK population emissions are over 10 times lower regularly cycle and the proportion of which owns a bike, 16% have two and a than those stemming from individual women classified as ‘current riders’ has further 13% have three or more. Ethical motorized transport”, as one study dropped from 32% to 27%.3 Furthermore, Consumer will always preach the less- reported.1 However, how a bike is made when time spent on the saddle is broken is-more line, recommending having one and used also matters. down, 70% is spent cycling for leisure multi-purpose bicycle that has a long This guide to bicycles explores the and only 30% for commuting purposes. lifespan, is fit for purpose and is regularly ethical policies Why aren’t used. and practices more people In choosing a green bicycle, you need to of the UK’s top Think of bicycles as rideable art commuting by consider a number of things: selling bicycle that can just about save the world. bicycle? brands (plus a Grant Petersen, bicycle designer. Barriers to Buying second hand or new? few British-made greater uptake bikes), to identify of cycling are A well-made second-hand bike can outlive the ‘greenest’ bike of them all. We include complex, but poor cycling infrastructure a cheap new one, and is environmentally brands that make a range of different bike across the UK appears to be key, better from a resource point of view. When types, from mountain bikes to sporty with cycling on roads perceived to be it comes to buying a second-hand bike, we racers and folding bikes. dangerous. As highlighted on page 26 a recommend seeking out your local DIY Mountain bikes remain the bike number of campaign groups are working project and asking for advice. See our DIY of choice for people in the UK (26% to overcome these barriers in the UK. directory on page 31 to find some of the of cyclists own one), followed by the Transport blending is also becoming UK’s great bike projects. traditional ladies’ or men’s bike (19% increasingly tricky as the UK public If buying new, we recommend seeking of people own these). However, folding transport system continues to create out your local independent bicycle shop bicycles, gravel bikes and electric bicycles barriers to travelling with a bicycle. and getting advice on size, usability, etc. have seen a surge in popularity. Increasing numbers of UK train We also recommend trying out a bike Although it constitutes a small part of companies now require travellers to book before buying it – to ensure it is right for the UK bicycle market at present, demand their non-folding bicycles ahead of travel.4 you. You can sometimes hire or borrow a for electric bicycles is increasing fast and Hiring bicycles at either end of your bicycle that you are considering buying, to is expected to increase a lot more. We have journey, or acquiring a folding bike, are try it, just ask the store about your options. therefore created a separate electric bicycle potential work-arounds to this issue. guide which rates the top ten electric bikes The following companies in this guide Hiring a bike? as rated by ‘A to B’ magazine,2 plus those offer folding bicycles: Dahon, Halfords, If you aren’t going to cycle often, why offered by the biggest bike brands in the Giant, Brompton, Raleigh (owned by not consider hiring a bike if the option is UK (see page 28). Accell Group), Avocet Sport, Muddyfox available to you? (owned by Sports Direct), Dawes (Tandem A number of public hire schemes have Time to cycle? Group Cycles), Woosh (e-bikes only), Rally rolled out across the country, a few of Design Limited (e-bikes only), KwikFold which are highlighted below. Some involve Bicycles present themselves as simple, Bikes Limited (e-bikes only), and Karbon a fee for using the service (annual payment elegant tools for pedalling out of a number Kinetics Limited (e-bikes only).

22 Bicycles Product SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org GUIDE for example); but many just charge for Materials Steel and aluminium environmental each journey. comparisons for bicycles appear non- Dockless bike sharing is the new The materials used in making a bicycle existent. One article stated, “in general, rage in the UK with Chinese-owned can affect both the environmental impacts producing steel emits less carbon than ofo (available in London, Cambridge associated with manufacturing and the producing aluminium –1.8 tons of bicycles longevity. Ultimately, we want to and Oxford) and Mobike (available in CO2 per ton of steel to 2.2 tons of CO2 Newcastle, Manchester, Stockport and keep old bicycles in use and support the per ton of aluminium”,17 referencing a London) being the first to enter the production of new bicycles with a long 2011 aluminium industry sustainability market. To access the bikes, you need lifespan. A robust frame is therefore key. report.18 a smartphone with the relevant app In terms of longevity, steel comes out downloaded on it, plus a credit or debit The bicycle’s GHG emissions best if cared for. Steel and aluminium are card. You then locate a bicycle on a map, also easier to recycle and use in making visit it and scan a QR code to unlock it are over 10 times lower new bicycle frames. and you’re off. Once finished, you just than those stemming from One material to watch in future may be leave it somewhere safe.10 This ‘floating bamboo, which has the potential to create hire’ model is fairly new to the UK, and individual motorised transport. bicycles with a very low carbon footprint. teething problems have occurred with However, bamboo bikes are currently some bicycles getting vandalised, stolen labour intensive to build, resulting in high and left clogging up walkways or canals. A The most common (affordable) frame price tags. If interested in exploring this list of other dockless bike hire schemes can choices are steel, aluminium and carbon option further, visit the Bamboo Bicycle be found on Cycling UK’s website.11 fibre. All come with different price tags Club’s website (www.bamboobicycleclub. and weights, but all are energy intensive org) which runs courses on making your to produce, involve pillaging the earth own bamboo bicycle. for minerals, and all have complex global supply chains.14 Although some studies Maintenance have started to look into the life cycle analysis15 of bicycles, none compare The better you look after your bike, the different bicycles’ environmental impacts longer it should last and the less waste like-on-like. Comparing impacts is also you should produce. So, remember to made tricky by the supply chains of keep your chain lubed, your tyres inflated, minerals, especially recycled alloys, being your brakes well maintained, and protect hard to trace to source. the bike from the rain if kept outside. In addition, the simpler a bicycle is Boris bikes, now known as Santander In a report commissioned by bike manufacturer Specialized, the aluminium mechanically, in theory the easier it is to cycles, use docking stations that are dotted maintain. around London. The scheme is aimed at frame came out worse than the carbon fibre frame from a carbon perspective When asked “what is your most people wanting to make short trips. You environmentally friendly bicycle?”, pay a “£2 bike access fee for 24 hours, you (about 170 kg of carbon dioxide equivalents per kg of bike vs. about 60 kg). Halfords responded: “REAL Singolo Fixie can make as many journeys as you like – this is based on the bike being made within that time, and the first 30 minutes Water wise, aluminium was better, using around 1,490 litres of water per kg of bike from steel with no gears and a minimalist of each journey is included. Longer design and therefore lower carbon journeys cost £2 for each extra 30 minutes compared to 2,160 litres of water per kg of bike for carbon fibre.16 emissions to manufacture.” However, or less” (www.tfl.gov.uk). The bicycles are obviously, the lack of gears would limit now being made by Pashley Cycles, are what you can do with it. maintained by Serco (Ethiscore of 5) and are sponsored by Santander12 (also has an Ethiscore of 5). A number of similar schemes have sprouted up in other cities around the UK. To find out about these and e-bike hire options, see https://www. cyclinguk.org/article/guide-hire-bikes- and-public-bike-share-schemes Bromptondock has 40 dock stations around the UK and encourages medium and long-term borrowing, allowing you to take bicycles to work and home. Cities hosting the scheme include Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, London, Guildford, Oxford, Didcot, Stoke, Southampton, Norwich, Portsmouth, Peterborough and Woking.13 One condition to be aware of is that if the bike is stolen whilst in your care you will be charged £350 to replace it. Bamboo bicycles have very low carbon footprints and you can even make your own.

23 Product Bicycles GUIDE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org

End of life A number of the DIY projects listed on creative experimentation: old tyres can be page 31 welcome old bicycles, particularly turned into belts,21 old chains into bottle No matter how well you maintain your if they are in relatively good condition or openers or key rings ... bike, there will always be some waste. have salvageable parts. Halfords runs a bicycle take back scheme,19 as does Evans Cycles20 who offer up to £350 off your next bicycle if you trade in your old one. Old inner tubes can be re-used as bungee cords for strapping things to a bike. They can also be turned into a wallet or posted to www.cycleofgood.com: Krizevac Project, Atlas Works, Paragon Road, Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, ST3 1NR. Cycle of Good aims “to save every single inner tube in the UK from going to landfill”, turning them into bags and wallets that are made by tailors in Malawi. Finished products are then shipped and sold in the UK. Old tyres and other bike parts are harder to re-use. They require some more

Environment Animals People Politics +ve USING THE TABLES USING THE TABLES Ethiscore: the higher Positive ratings (+ve): the score, the better the • Company Ethos: company across the criticism = full mark, categories. e = half mark. H = worst rating, E h = middle rating, • Product Sustainability: empty = best rating Maximum of five positive (no criticisms). marks.

BRAND COMPANY GROUP Ethiscore (out of 20) Ethiscore Reporting Environmental Climate Change Toxics & Pollution Habitats & Resources Oil Palm Testing Animal Farming Factory Animal Rights Human Rights Rights Workers’ Supply Chain Management Irresponsible Marketing Arms & Military Supply Technologies Controversial Call Boycott Activity Political Anti-Social Finance Ethos Company Product Sustainability Enigma 12 H H Enigma Titanium Ltd Pashley 11 H h h h h Pashley Holdings Ltds Dahon 9 H h H h H H Dahon Diamondback, Raleigh 9 h h H HH H Accell Group, Raleigh Cycle Boss, British Eagle, Falcon 8.5 H h H H h H h Tandem Group Claud Butler, Dawes, Zombie 8.5 H h H H h H h Tandem Group Concept, Coyote, Riddick 8.5 H h H h H H h Hero Cycles Ltd Rooster, Ryedale, Viking 8.5 H h H h H H h Hero Cycles Ltd Kalkhoff, Gazelle 8.5 H h H h H H h Pon Holdings B.V. Adventure, Genesis, 8 H h H h H H H Rinaldo Rinaldini Ltd Ridgeback, Saracen 8 H h H h H H H Rinaldo Rinaldini Ltd Brompton 8 H h H h H h H h Brompton Bicycles Ltd Giant 7.5 H h H H h H h H Giant Manufacturing Co Ltd Bontrager, Trek 7 HHH h H h H h h Trek Bicycle Corporation Cannondale, GT, Iron Horse 6.5 HHH h H h H h H Dorel Industries Inc Mongoose 6.5 HHH h H h H h H Dorel Industries Inc Specialized 6.5 HHH h H h H h H Specialized Bicycle Compnts. Apollo, Boardman, Carrera, 6.5 HHH h H H h h H Halfords Group Plc Trax, Voodoo, Pendleton 6.5 HHH h H H h h H Halfords Group Plc Muddyfox 6 H H H H h H H h H Mike Ashley

See all the research behind these ratings on www.ethicalconsumer.org. For definitions of all the categories go to www.ethicalconsumer.org/subscriberarea

24 Bicycles Product SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org GUIDE

are: Brookes Saddles, Reynolds 531 Score table highlights m Steel for frames, Sturmey Archer Hub nsu er o .o Bicycles may be ethically benevolent c r Gears.” l g If buying new, we when you are riding them, but the a

c recommend going to

i

manufacturing still needs to catch up. As Conflict minerals h t a local independent highlighted in the Ethiscore table on page With the rise in popularity of e Y bike store and seeking BE U 24, most companies score a worst in the electric bicycles come ethical concerns S T B out a steel bicycle. Environmental Reporting and Supply over mineral sourcing for electronics The only brand Chain Management categories, with little components, especially as no company eligible for our Best Buy improvement in reporting compared covered in this guide publishes an label is Pashley. It prioritises UK to 2012 (when we last reviewed bicycle adequate (if any) minerals sourcing policy. manufacture and seeks to source manufacturers). Many companies in this guide also make parts from within Europe wherever Most companies also lose marks electric bikes – see the guide on page 28. possible. under the Pollution and Toxics category Tantalum, Tin, Tungsten and Gold 11 for retailing Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), (3TG for short) are key components of as campaigners have for years raised electronic devices and are commonly concerns over the toxic issues related referred to as conflict minerals - minerals 5 to PVC. often mined in conditions of armed Companies that retail leather conflict and human rights abuses, notably without a leather sourcing policy also in the eastern provinces of the Democratic lose marks under the Pollution and Republic of Congo (DRC). It is not clear Toxics and Animal Rights categories. whether these minerals are used in electric Leather, as the hide of a dead animal, bicycle manufacture. naturally decomposes, and to prevent this However cobalt is definitely needed decomposition the leather industry uses a to create lithium-ion batteries, and as cocktail of harmful chemicals, including detailed on page 19, its mining has been RECOMMENDED trivalent chromium sulphate, sodium linked to dangerous and unhealthy sulphide, sodium sulfhydrate, arsenic and working conditions, deaths and We recommend buying a well-built cyanide. Tannery effluent also contains widespread child labour. second-hand bike from a local DIY large amounts of other pollutants, such as Ethical Consumer expects companies bike project (see page 31). protein, hair, salt, lime sludge and acids. manufacturing electric bicycles to publish These can all pollute the land, air and a mineral sourcing policy that shows a water supply, making it a highly polluting commitment to conflict-free sourcing, industry. with ongoing due diligence and support Improved ratings for conflict-free initiatives in the DRC region. No companies that sold electric As always, some exceptions to this poor bicycles in this guide had an adequate practice do exist. minerals sourcing policy, and so were The Accell Group, for example, has marked down under the Habitats and improved its Environmental Reporting Resources and Human Rights categories. score to a middle by setting environmental reduction targets, including reducing waste by 2-4% per bike per year and

CO2e emissions by 1.5% annually. Accell group also monitors its energy efficiency,

CO2 emission and waste reduction programmes on an annual basis. Halfords improved its Supply Chain Management rating to a middle, and Pashley received a best rating in this category. Both have relatively good supply chain policies and show a commitment to long-term relationships with suppliers. Pashley also seeks to manufacture components in-house and sources locally wherever possible, stating it is “currently supported by almost 100 British component suppliers and over 85 British service and utility companies. In addition to using British-made mudguards, chain Christophe Wittouck Christophe and seat stays, cables and wheels on our If you are worried about the carrying abilities of a bicycle, check out our online product guide cycles, some other notable suppliers we to cargo bikes which present a genuine alternative to the car. This one’s just been to IKEA. Also have a long-established relationship with see page 50 for how cargo bikes replace 50% of city deliveries.

25 Product Bicycles GUIDE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org

Companies behind the brands Creating a Cycletopia Halfords continues to dominate the bicycle sector, making A number of national schemes and campaigns aim to try and overcome barriers to cycling, some of which are highlighted up 24% of the market by value, followed by Taiwan-based below. Giant Manufacturing and the US-based Specialized Bicycle Components. The UK Government’s Cycle to Work Scheme can help in overcoming financial barriers to buying a bicycle. Under the Giant manufactures bikes for a range of purposes (competition, scheme your employer buys your bike for you and claims exercise, recreation, and transportation) and offers both pedal- tax benefits in return, meaning that they can obtain the bike powered and battery-powered bicycles. at a significantly lower cost. For more information see The Halfords Group recently acquired online retailers Tredz and www.cyclescheme.co.uk Wheelies, responding to an ongoing consumer trend towards Cycling UK is the trading name of the Cycling Touring buying bicycles from online retailers as opposed to bricks club, a national cycling charity that aims to make cycling and mortar shops. It has also formed a long-term partnership mainstream through campaigning for “cyclists’ rights for with UK charity Re-cycles; collecting and diverting customers’ safer roads, better infrastructure and legal protection”. unwanted bikes from landfill and donating them to people in Its website lays out ten steps for turning your town into a the UK and in Africa.22 Cycletopia, with the first two being fairly simple: 1) report potholes as they can be a danger to cyclists,28 In 2017, Halfords faced criticism from cycling groups and 2) Join your local cycling campaign group. employment rights campaigners. It was the target of the Twitter To read the remaining eight steps visit www.cyclinguk. campaign #Boycotthalford after being accused of providing org/cycletopia “anti-cyclist ammunition” to mainstream media by stating Sustrans (see also opposite page) is a charity that aims to there was a ‘convincing’ argument for cyclists to carry number make it easier to walk and cycle. ‘The Big Pedal’, one of plates.23 their current projects, challenges pupils, staff and parents Regarding employment rights, it was criticised for employing to get active and cycle or scoot to school. Sustrans also young jobseekers without pay under the government-backed continues to develop the UK’s National Cycle Network: ‘workfare’ scheme.24 Halfords ran a “two-month scheme in www.sustrans.org.uk/ncn/map, creating better and safer partnership with Qube, which involved 25 hours a week cycling links between major towns. working in store and three at a training centre”. Gail Cartmail, bicyclesafe.com, although American focused, provides a Unite assistant general secretary commented on the scheme: some good tips on how to avoid the most common cycling “The fact that well-known brands are operating these schemes collisions. to boost their profits is especially alarming. These schemes are www.cyclingbuddy.com supports you in meeting local a worst-case scenario and fall far short of the assurances Unite cyclists. was given when these traineeships were introduced.” Critical Mass is a monthly cycle ride which takes place in Specialized Bicycle Components is also in the process of over 300 cities around the world, often on the last Friday establishing a take back stream, but for carbon fibre bicycle of each month. Cyclists – friends and strangers – gather frames only, which it then recycles.25 together to ride around their city in a group, celebrating

26 cycling and presenting an alternative to the dominant Trek Bicycle has a ‘4% for a 2-Wheeled World’ scheme, motorised form of transport. You just turn up at an agreed whereby it gives 4% of all Trek profits to bicycle related time and place and cycle! Critical Mass events tend work, including PeopleForBikes (a US-based campaign group to be peaceful and festive and are a great way to meet advocating for cycling infrastructure) and World Bicycle Relief new people. The common message emphasised by this (an organisation providing locally assembled bicycles to people decentralised movement is “we are traffic too”. across rural Africa, including health workers and students). To find your local ride visit: http://criticalmass.wikia.com/ Jupiter Asset Management, owned by Jupiter Fund Management wiki/List_of_rides Plc, owns 10.8% of the shares in the Tandem Group. Jupiter Fund Management has investments in a number of companies criticised by Ethical Consumer, including BP, Tesco and Morgan Stanley. It was also featured in the latest ‘Don’t Bank on the Bomb’ report27 as it had an estimated US$160 million invested in BAE systems – a company involved in the production of key components for the nuclear arsenals in France, the UK and the USA. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) argues that “By divesting from nuclear weapon producers, we can make it harder for those that profit from weapons of mass destruction and encourage them to cut the production of nuclear weapons from their business strategies. Producing, possessing and modernising nuclear weapons is not something to be proud of and Don’t Bank on the Bomb names those that are still okay with trying to make a profit from producing nuclear weapons, our job is to shame them.”

26 Bicycles Product SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org GUIDE

How can we get more women out of cars and on two wheels?

Bikes might be the healthiest and greenest vehicle going. But in the UK, it is still an activity dominated by men, writes Rachel White from Sustrans, the UK’s walking and cycling charity.

Getting around by bike rather than car is good for our mental and physical health, reducing our chance of getting cancer and other long-term diseases. It also reduces carbon emissions and pollution, such as particulate matter and nitrogen oxide. Road transport is responsible for 80% of nitrogen oxides emissions, which is where the UK exceeds the legal limits. Yet the UK records a mean 2% cycling Women are furthermore more likely budgets and competing pressures, and rate overall, with women making nearly to make chain trips: dropping children so we need to create political pressure to three times fewer cycling journeys than off at school, then travelling on to work, make them invest in cycling infrastructure men. Sustrans recently produced a report, to the shops and then back to pick up the that works for everyone. ‘Women: Reducing the gender gap’, of children. Parts of these trips are often in It is entirely possible to transform the 7,700 people surveyed across seven major radial areas rather than in city centres. way we travel around in the UK, and it is cities outside of London, which found that Cycling infrastructure is getting better entirely possible to reduce the gender gap 73% of women in these cities never ride a inside cities, whether it’s on protected between men and women in cycling. bike. cycleways, on main roads, or on quieter Denmark has achieved this, with the It’s not that men are more ethically back routes. But radial journeys in outer University of Copenhagen finding no minded than women, or that cycling is cities are still under represented. difference between the participation of more appealing to men than women men and women in cycling there. But – 30% of women surveyed who never How to improve things Denmark has been investing in good ride a bike said that they would like to, There are a number of things that can be cycling infrastructure since the 1970s, and and 68% said their city would be a better done to improve the situation. We need has over 230km of on-street protected place to live and work if more people more women in transport planning, and cycle tracks in Copenhagen alone, allowing cycled. But women have different needs communities should be better involved in most journeys to be taken safely by bicycle. and experiences to men, and these are proposals for new cycling infrastructure We need to create the public groundswell not being translated well into transport from the start, so that the needs of in the UK to do the same thing. It’s better planning. communities are fully integrated into its for our health, our economy and, of A key issue is that women generally location and design. course, for the environment in which report heightened fears of traffic than men. We also need more women to get we live. 76% of women in the survey who cycle, or out on their bikes and then to feedback would like to start, would find cycle routes to their local councillors about what is along the road (but physically separated needed to make their journey safer and Rachel White is the senior policy and from traffic) very helpful in this. more pleasant. Local authorities have tight political advisor at Sustrans.

References: 1 https://bikeportland.org/2011/12/12/new-study-compares-bicyclings-co2-emissions-to-other-modes-63536 2 www.atob.org.uk/electric-bikes/electric-bike- buyers-guide-uk 3 Mintel Bicycles Report, March 2017 http://reports.mintel.com/display/792547 4 New rules around taking bikes on trains, April 2018, https://www. birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/rules-around-taking-bikes-trains-14495314#r3z-addoor 5 www.greenspec.co.uk/building-design/polyvinyl-chloride- pvc-environment-health 6 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/30/congo-violence-fuels-fears-of-return-to-90s-bloodbath 7 https://www.theguardian.com/ environment/2017/jul/29/electric-cars-battery-manufacturing-cobalt-mining 8 https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/AFR6231832016ENGLISH.PDF 9 https:// www.sourceintelligence.com/3tg-just-starting-point-supply-chain-investigation 10 https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/apr/14/dockless-bike-hire-scheme-ofo- mobike-santander-cycles 11 https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/guide-hire-bikes-and-public-bike-share-schemes 12 www.wired.co.uk/article/boris-bikes-london-redesign- tfl-bike-hire-santander-cycle 13 https://www.bromptonbikehire.com/docks 14 https://www.pinkbike.com/news/aluminum-vs-carbon-separating-environmental-fact-from- fiction-in-the-frame-materials-debate.html 15 www.designlife-cycle.com/bicycle 16 https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/8483/Duke_MP_ Published.pdf 17 https://grist.org/living/what-is-the-greenest-type-of-bike-frame 18 www.aluminum.org/sites/default/files/Aluminum_The_Element_of_Sustainability.pdf 19 https://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_14552_productId_1035917_langId_-1_categoryId_173020 20 https://www. evanscycles.com/trade-in 21 www.instructables.com/id/trendy-belts-from-old-bicycle-tires 22 www.re-cycle.org/news/halfords-recycle-named-winners-business-charity- awards-2016 23 https://www.bikebiz.com/news/boycott-halfords-say-consumers-over-numberplatesforcyclists-call 24 https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/sep/12/ halfords-and-prudential-criticised-over-unpaid-traineeships 12 September 2017 25 https://www.specialized.com/us/en/carbon-fiber-recycling-program 26 https://www. trekbikes.com/us/en_US/inside_trek/social_responsibility 27 https://www.dontbankonthebomb.com/2018-report 28 https://www.fillthathole.org.uk

27 Product Electric bikes GUIDE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org Cycling with the current

Josie Wexler talks about the rise of the electric bike, and what you should take into account when buying one.

This guide rates the top ten electric bikes do this, but the experts are scathing, saying more seriously, it reduces car mileage. One as rated by ‘A to B’ magazine, plus those that it is marketing nonsense as it is not UK study estimated that lending people offered by the biggest bike brands in the worth the extra weight and resistance. ebikes reduced car miles travelled by at UK (see page 24). But apart from the disappointing lack least 20%.2 With the current average EU of regenerative braking, there is a huge electricity grid mix, an ebike’s carbon “Does it recharge when amount to be said for ebikes. There is footprint is basically equivalent to a research showing that they increase the normal pushbike’s once you take into you go downhill?” amount of cycling that people do so much account the extra food the pushbike rider 3 I’m not sure why, but this is the first that they can actually increase the exercise needs (based on an average EU diet): 4 thing I get asked by a good three quarters people do overall, even though they lessen easily 10 times less than a car. 1 of people who hear that I have an ebike it per mile. Ebikes are also enabling the rise of (electric bike). The answer, I’m afraid, is Environmentally, they are definitely ‘silver cyclists’: in the UK 62% are sold no. There are a few ebikes that do claim to winners. As people tend to use ebikes to people over the age of 55. One study

Environment Animals People Politics +ve USING THE TABLES USING THE TABLES Ethiscore: the higher Positive ratings (+ve): the score, the better the • Company Ethos: company across the criticism = full mark, categories. e = half mark. H = worst rating, E h = middle rating, • Product Sustainability: empty = best rating Maximum of five positive (no criticisms). marks.

BRAND COMPANY GROUP Ethiscore (out of 20) Ethiscore Reporting Environmental Climate Change Toxics & Pollution Habitats & Resources Oil Palm Testing Animal Farming Factory Animal Rights Human Rights Rights Workers’ Supply Chain Management Irresponsible Marketing Arms & Military Supply Technologies Controversial Call Boycott Activity Political Anti-Social Finance Ethos Company Product Sustainability GoCycle G2 10 HH HH Karbon Kinetics Ltd Momentum 10 HH HH Momentum Electric Cytronex 9.5 H h H HH Modern Times Ltd Dahon 9 H h H h H H Dahon Kwikfold 9 H h H h H H Kwikfold Bikes Ltd Raleigh 9 h h H HH H Accell Group, Raleigh Cycle Woosh 9 H h H h H H Woosh Bikes Ltd Dawes 8.5 H h H H h H h Tandem Group Kalkhoff, Gazelle 8.5 H h H h H H h Pon Holdings B.V. Viking 8.5 H h H h H H h Hero Cycles Ltd Adventure, Genesis, 8 H h H h H H H Rinaldo Rinaldini Ltd Ridgeback, Saracen 8 H h H h H H H Rinaldo Rinaldini Ltd Brompton 8 H h H h H h H h Brompton Bicycles Ltd Giant 7.5 H h H H h H h H Giant Manufacturing Co Ltd Kudos 7.5 HHH h H h H h Rally Design Trek 7 HHH h H h H h h Trek Bicycle Corporation Cannondale 6.5 HHH h H h H h H Dorel Industries Inc Carrera, Apollo 6.5 HHH h H H h h H Halfords Group Plc Voodoo, Pendleton 6.5 HHH h H H h h H Halfords Group Plc Turbo 6.5 HHH h H h H h H Specialized Bicycle Compnts.

See all the research behind these ratings on www.ethicalconsumer.org. For definitions of all the categories go to www.ethicalconsumer.org/subscriberarea

28 Electric bikes Product SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org GUIDE

m nsu er o .o c r l g Because of the a

c almost total lack

i

h t of any policies

e Y B U addressing workers’ ES T B rights in their supply chains, no ebike companies are eligible for our Best Buy label. Rachel Aylott/Raleigh Rachel

in which older people agreed to use one a bit of a novelty in the UK, but that is RECOMMENDED for at least 30 minutes three times a week starting to change: 75,000 ebikes were sold found it significantly improved health, here in 2016, compared with 25,000 in Our recommended buys are GoCycle, mental wellbeing and cognitive ability.5 2013. Momentum, Cytronex and Woosh. On many variables the pushbike group Part of the reason that ebikes The first three of these are did even better, but the ebike group won have taken off so much recently is expensive bikes, particularly the outright on self-assessed mental health improvements in battery technology. GoCycle (they start at £2,500). – unsurprising given how much fun they When I got my first one, it used lead acid are. batteries which I could scarcely lift. Now nearly all of those sold in Europe use Global sales lightweight lithium batteries. In China a major factor was that they were actively Ebike sales are soaring. Global sales vastly promoted by the government. outnumber sales of electric cars. Total spend is predicted to reach $24 billion by 2025.6 The cost China is the centre of the boom. 90% of Sadly, ebikes don’t come cheap. Most of 10 ebikes produced globally are sold there (32 the decent ones (and a lot of shoddy ones million in 2016). There are more ebikes as well) cost over £700. You can pick them on the road in China than cars. However, up much more cheaply second hand, many Chinese ebikes are more like electric however it is important to bear in mind scooters – while they do have pedals, they that batteries have a finite number of are stupendously heavy and aren’t really cycles. So, you either need evidence that built for serious pedalling. They are mostly the battery still has some juice left, or you operated with a twist throttle. need to factor in the (significant) cost of a Woosh is a comparatively cheaper The ones popular in Europe are far new battery. option (its conversion kits start at more expensive ones called ‘pedalecs’ or The Cycle to Work Scheme may be able around £350, and its complete ebikes ‘electric assist bikes’ that are supposed to to help – see page 26 for details. at £750). be usable as normal pedalled bikes as well. You can also buy conversion kits to Over half a million were sold in Germany electrify a normal bike, and you may be Cytronex also sells conversion kits in 2016, and more than a quarter of a able to save some money by doing it that from around £470. million in the Netherlands.7 They are still way if you already have a bike. See right.

Score table highlights Because a lot of the companies are very small and there is Likely use of tax avoidance minimal information available about their practices, there is less differentiation between the companies than normal. This is one rating on which the companies differ more dramatically. The companies scored as follows: Conflict minerals • Best rating: Karbon Kinetics (GoCycle), Momentum, Modern Times (Cytronex), Dahon, Kwikfold, Woosh, There is not a single ebike company which has a conflict Dawes, Brompton, Rally Design Ltd (Kudos), Accell minerals policy. See page 25 for why they ought to have one. Group (Raleigh). • Middle rating: Pon Holdings (Kalkhoff, Gazelle), Hero Environmental and supply chain policies (Viking), Trek. Environmental and human rights supply chain policies are • Worst rating: Halfords (Apollo, Carrera, Pendleton, also very thin on the ground. All but Raleigh got our worst Voodoo) Rinaldo Rinaldini Limited (Adventure, rating for environmental reporting. All but Halfords got worst Ridgeback, Saracen), Giant, Dorel (Cannondale), for management of workers’ rights in their supply chains. Specialised Bicycle Components Inc. (Turbo).

29 Product Electric bikes GUIDE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org

Ebikes and the law cheaper ones by more obscure Chinese when I want it, but is also capable of really companies like Bafang or Tongxin. The pumping out the power when I am tired UK law requires ebike riders to be over batteries, meanwhile, are generally made and need to get up an extremely steep hill. 14 years old but in pretty much all other by major electronics companies like Such ebikes do exist. But a lot fail to respects ebikes count as bicycles: you Samsung, Bosch, and Panasonic. measure up. Some are horrendously heavy. don’t need a licence, they don’t need to be Most (although not all) companies Some just give you a binary choice of doing registered, taxed or insured, and you can list their parts’ manufacturers in the spec. all of the work or none of it. Some aren’t use them on normal cycle lanes. We do not rate companies’ suppliers as it capable of getting up steep hills even in the However, in order to count as an ebike rapidly balloons into an impossible task, top setting. rather than a moped, the motor needs but we have rated Bosch, Panasonic and Basically, there is no substitute for going to cut out if you are going faster than Samsung moderately recently. Bosch did and trying out a whole load of bikes to 15.5mph, and the motor cannot be rated comparatively well, getting an overall find which ones are right for you. However, as more than 250 watts. Ethiscore of 8. Samsung and Panasonic did as far as power goes, it also helps to have There has been quite a lot of legal less well, scoring 6, and 5.5 respectively. a basic understanding of the technical ambiguity around throttles which allow Samsung has a particularly poor stuff. A lot of confusion arises because the you to use the motor without pedalling, reputation on workers’ rights, with many power rating of a motor (which is the bit but it is now agreed that if the bike was reports talking of union suppression and which is legally regulated) is actually how sold after the 1st January 2016, it is only dire working conditions.8 More detail is much power it can take in the long term. allowed to have a throttle that propels you available on the Ethical Consumer website. Most motors can use much more for short up to 3.7 mph – in other words, one that One particular thing to look out periods, such as when tackling a steep gets you started. After that, you must be for in battery manufacturers is conflict hill. The bike’s short term ‘peak power’ is moving the pedals for the motor to work. mineral policies, as cobalt is used in determined by the size of the battery and the manufacture of lithium batteries. the controller rather than the motor. Thus, Who makes the parts? Panasonic and Samsung received our the power of the bike depends on all three middle rating for conflict minerals policy. components, not just the motor. There are a dizzying number of tiny ebike Bosch had a worst rating. As the ebike market does contain some companies, but this is a bit misleading: right junk, it is a good idea to check out most of them just do the final assembly. ‘A to B’ magazine before you buy. It does Only the very big companies like Kalkhoff Which electric bike is free online reviews that should be able to and Giant, and the extremely upmarket right for you? help you separate the wheat from the very ones, make their own components such as seriously chaff. batteries or motors. Everyone wants different things in an For more information see www.atob. As to the others: the motors on the ebike but, for me, a good ebike is one org.uk more expensive ones are generally made that I can ride with or without the motor, by Bosch, Panasonic or Yamaha; the that allows me to get plenty of exercise

Companies behind the brands Kalkhoff and Gazelle are both brands of Derby Cycle, a German company that is one of the three largest manufacturers of bicycles in Europe. In 2011 it was bought by Pon Holdings PV, a Dutch company. It makes some of its own motors but also uses ones made by other companies such as Bosch. Karbon Kinetics Ltd is a tiny British company started by a car design engineer that produces a futuristic and phenomenally expensive folding ebike called the GoCycle. Modern Times Ltd is a small English company that makes the luxury, lightweight, super-stealthy Cytronex kit to electrify any The Cytronex kit converts a normal bike into an ebike with a motor bike in a way that no one will ever know. It is close to silent and disguised as a water bottle! has the battery disguised as a water bottle. Momentum Electric Ltd is another very small British ebike Woosh is a small English company which sells more economical company. Its motors seem to be made by Bafang. Despite ebikes. It sells fourteen models and two kits and uses a variety of sharing its name with the left-wing activist movement affiliated different systems. Its motors seem to be made largely by Bafang, to the Labour Party, it has sadly, so far, failed to give out free and its batteries by Panasonic and Samsung. ebikes to Labour members!

References: 1 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5644161/#CR43 2 Cairns et al, 2017, Electrically-assisted bikes: Potential impacts on travel behaviour,

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice (103) 327-342 3 https://ecf.com/sites/ecf.com/files/ECF_CO2_WEB.pdf 4 Shreya Dave, 2010, Life Cycle Assessment of Transportation Options for Commuters 5 www.cycleboom.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/cB_Summary_Report_Sept2016_Digital.pdf 6 www.hintonbikes.com/single- post/2017/07/13/The-global-ebike-boom-is-coming-to-a-town-near-you-part-2-China-East-Asia 7 www.statista.com/statistics/397772/electric-bicycle-sales-volume-in-the- european-union-eu-by-country 8 E.g. www.ft.com/content/d81e02e4-36f2-11e8-8b98-2f31af407cc8

30 Beyond consumerism ethicalconsumer.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

Bike kitchens Alternatives to mainstream bike shops are popping up all over the UK. These are DIY spaces – or, more often than not, Do-it-Together spaces – that give you the tools, the tea and the mechanical support to keep your bike wheels turning. Bike kitchens (as they are commonly called) are open workshops, where members of the public can access everything that they need to do maintenance and repairs on their bicycles. Most have mechanics or volunteers on hand to lend expertise,

but the central premise is that the bike owner does the labour © Nuttanart Khamlaksana | Dreamstime.com themselves. Free, for a small fee, or pay-as-you-feel, each kitchen to help out. It also runs ‘Earn-A-Bike’ courses, for those runs on a slightly different model. The vast majority, though, experiencing financial hardship or social exclusion to repair a are community enterprises, which make people and the bike for their own use. environment their priority. Many of the bigger projects also lead parallel programmes tackling social exclusion, from training and ReCycle Bikes, Sheffield employment support for those that are homeless or long-term This is a social enterprise selling recycled adults and children’s unemployed, to providing recycled bikes for asylum seekers. bicycles and second-hand parts, and donating the profits back We found well over 50 such places in the UK, with 10 in into the community. Three days a week, it works with young London alone. Below are some of the most interesting projects, people who are struggling in mainstream education. You can but you can find a full list on our website. book a work stand in its fully-equipped workshops on two days a week for a small fee, when there are mechanics on hand to The Bristol Bike Project, Bristol help with repairs. One-on-one maintenance classes are also Working with available. the whole Bristol Wolverhampton Bike Shed community, with schemes A community-based project offering all services for free. That to empower the means that you can either use their tools and expertise to fix underprivileged your bike up yourself, or ask one of the volunteers to do it for and marginalised, you. The only limit is time, as it is only open for a couple of ‘Earn-A-Bike’ hours each Saturday, and donations are always welcome. It also gives people the offers cycle training, community rides and even community bike chance to refurbish a bike into one they can keep, and the polo. ‘Bike Kitchen’ enables them to maintain it. The project also runs maintenance classes, women-only nights, and ‘volunteer Made Good, www.madegood.org courses’ helping people with mental health issues, learning Made Good is a small non-profit organisation that provides free difficulties and substance-abuse problems to volunteer in the info on cycle maintenance. It’s got hundreds of high quality workshop. videos free for anybody to view on-line. https://thebristolbikeproject.org

The Wee Spoke Hub, Edinburgh Many of these places are also a great place to buy a second- hand bike or donate your rusty frame or parts. The Wee Spoke Hub is the cycling arm of the Shrub Swap and Reuse Hub, a community-led cooperative in Edinburgh. It runs cycle training courses and a pay-as-you-feel workshop twice a week for bike repairs, with tools and parts as well as volunteers for advice. It also lends the space to Crisis charity, for its essential bike maintenance courses for those without permanent abode. Donated bikes are repaired and given to those who might not otherwise have access. www.shrubcoop.org/the-wee-spoke-hub

The Broken Spoke, Oxford This is a not-for-profit social enterprise that provides open workshop support, mechanics courses and cycle training – as well as ‘Beryl’s Night’, a monthly mechanics session for women and transgender people to use the workshop or socialise. The space is open on four days of the week, uses a tiered pricing structure and provides parts, tools, tea, biscuits and volunteers

31 Product Restaurants GUIDE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org Eating out in restaurants Francesca de la Torre finds out what the UK’s chain restaurants are bringing to the table.

In February, staff strike when TGI Fridays redistributed 40 percent of tips paid on credit and debit cards to backhouse staff, in lieu of a wage increase.

hile the landscape of most Wage’, which increased the minimum up to 10% of the total takings they had UK city centres might wage for over-25s. At the time of this processed in their shift. In many cases it Wsuggest otherwise, the chain announcement, Whitbread publicly was stated that this was so that tips could restaurant industry has been taking a bit protested it, threatening job cuts and price be distributed to kitchen staff who aren’t of a hit recently with profits reportedly hikes.3 The company didn’t seem to have tipped directly. However, the levy was not plummeting by 64% in one year, the same concerns when it came to paying being calculated from actual tips received and restaurant closures reaching the its directors, two of which earned annual but from overall takings. So, if waiting thousands.1,2 salaries of well over £1,000,000 in 2017/18. staff did not receive any tips they would This guide rates 25 chain restaurant Zizzi attracted criticism when it cut staff still have to pay the same amount. Many brands and shows that it is not just in perks and changed its tipping policy the reported that this meant they were often terms of profits that restaurants are giving day after the National Living Wage was losing well over half their tips and some a poor performance. We offer food for introduced.4 questioned whether it could put minimum thought in terms of sustainable, ethical While none of the restaurants were wage compliance at risk. and transparent sourcing, children’s making any moves towards paying the Unite menus and finding independent Real Living Wage, Wagamama and Pizza the Union alternatives. We also take a look at the Hut did not even manage to pay the is currently Sustainable Restaurant Association and minimum wage. Wagamama appeared at running a uncover where your money really goes the very top of HMRC’s ‘name and shame’ campaign when you are eating out. list of companies that had failed to pay on the the minimum wage. According to HMRC, issue and Wages, tips and the successful Japanese-inspired chain states that had underpaid its staff by £133,212.42 by sometimes contracts paying 2,630 staff below minimum wage.5 the levy This behaviour seems to point to an was also Living Wage industry that has been depending on a being used to cover administration fees culture of low pay in order to turn a profit. on card payments or to cover breakages, The “Real Living Wage” is the hourly rate under-payments or runaway customers.9 calculated by the Living Wage Foundation Tipping policy The campaign prompted many restaurants based on what people actually need to Over the past few years a number of chain to publicly amend their tipping policies support a decent standard of living for and a government consultation took place themselves and their families. We marked restaurants have hit the headlines after staff exposed restaurants’ unfair tipping in 2016. down every single restaurant on our list In TGI Friday’s case, a dispute over for failing to make any commitments policies. Pizza Express was soon followed by ASK, Zizzi, Bill’s, Las Iguanas, Café tipping policy actually went to strike toward paying their staff the Real Living action in May as waiting staff protested Wage. Rouge, Bella Italia, Prezzo, Wahaca, Jamie’s 6,7,8 against the fact that every time there was Recently, the government announced Italian, and more. It was reported that waiting staff a rise in minimum wage they had benefits the introduction of the ‘National Living 10 were being asked to pay the restaurants taken away.

32 Restaurants Product SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org GUIDE

Unite is still campaigning on the hour contracts and the precarious position would not get the job. The Independent issue and you can find out more on their it puts employees in. interviewed a number of restaurant chefs website by searching Fair Tips. Unite However, recently, issues have also been who had all signed a similar opt-out form. recommend that you tip in cash. A cash raised with permanent full-time contracts. They said it essentially meant they could tip is more likely to go to the person that It has been reported that it is common be asked to work a 60-70-hour week, served you, who can make sure back of practice in the hospitality sector to ask while their salary remained reflective of house staff get a fair share. staff to sign a form to opt-out of the 48- a 48-hour week. One chef stated that this hour maximum working week. This form brought his hourly pay to an equivalent of Contracts is reportedly often given at interview stage, £4, well below minimum wage.11 Concerns have been raised over the past meaning that employees feel pressured few years over the widespread use of zero- to sign it in case not doing so meant they

What’s on the children’s menu? According to the UK government, around a third of UK children aged 3-15 can be classed as overweight or obese.12 Public Health England have warned that restaurant culture is partly to blame for this situation, with eating out becoming the norm for many families.14 According to an article in the Telegraph, studies consistently find a connection between eating out and higher calorie intakes – “Last year, Harvard researchers discovered that people who eat out regularly are more likely to be overweight and to develop Type 2 diabetes compared to those who eat at home.”14 The Soil Association has been campaigning on the issue of children’s food in restaurants for a number of years now. Their latest ‘Out to Lunch’ report and league table was released in October 2017.15 The league table ranks restaurants on the quality of their children’s menu. It takes into account aspects such as availability of organic and free-range options, inclusion of vegetables in children’s meals, refills of sugary drinks, and portion sizes – especially of puddings! As we can see from the table opposite, Jamie’s Italian comes out on top and was praised for providing organic options and lots of vegetables. Wetherspoons also scored relatively well with parents liking the organic drinks and flexible portion sizes. Wahaca received positive marks for having staff which could consistently answer questions about where the meat on the You can see the full interactive league table at www.soilassociation. org/our-campaigns/outtolunch/out-to-lunch-2017-league-table menu came from. Nando’s and Prezzo both ended up at the bottom of the rankings, with a lack of vegetables offered to children sited as one of the main reasons. The gov.uk website attributed a number of improved practices among chain restaurants to the Soil Association campaign, not only pointing to the provision of healthier meals for children but also to more sustainable and transparent sourcing practices. Incorporating sustainable practices and certifications into children’s menus can provide a useful means for children to learn about where their food comes from and the impacts it has.16 The Soil Association has issued a number of key asks in light of these findings: • Serve two portions of veg with every child’s meal. • Ensure children’s puddings are an appropriate portion size. • Make water freely available and stop promoting sugary drinks to children. • Offer children’s portions of adult dishes. • Offer quality ingredients such as free range and organic on the children’s menu. • Provide children’s cutlery as standard. • Make breastfeeding mums feel welcome.

33 Product Restaurants GUIDE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org

responsibly, and getting more veg onto The Sustainable kids’ menus. It provides resources and Restaurant Association toolkits to help restaurants move towards more sustainable practices.13 The Sustainable Restaurant Association While the SRA is playing an important (SRA) was started by industry role in encouraging restaurants to be more professionals who wanted to create a ‘one- sustainable and to think about certain key stop-shop’ to help restaurants perform issues, we would not currently recommend better in terms of climate change, animal its star rating system as a useful way to welfare and food waste. decide how to spend your money ethically. When restaurants join the SRA, they This is because, while the issues addressed undergo a Sustainability Assessment, are important and relevant, there is and receive a rating of between one and limited transparency about how these are three stars (top rating) depending how scored. they score against a range of criteria in There is clear discrepancy between how 14 areas of sustainability – community restaurants faired in our rating system engagement, treating people fairly, healthy Four of the restaurants on our score compared to that of the Sustainable eating, responsible marketing, water table are rated by the SRA. These are Restaurant Association. For example, in saving, workplace resources, supply chain, Wahaca (1 star), Jamie’s Italian and Pizza our table, Wahaca loses a full mark under waste management, energy efficiency, Hut (2 stars) and Zizzi (3 stars).17 both Animal Rights and Factory Farming environmentally positive farming, local & The SRA runs a number of focused and yet is commended by the SRA for its seasonal, sustainable fish, ethical meat and campaigns looking at things such as policy on meat. dairy, and fair trade. reducing waste and plastic, sourcing fish

Environment Animals People Politics +ve USING THE TABLES USING THE TABLES Ethiscore: the higher Positive ratings (+ve): the score, the better the • Company Ethos: company across the criticism = full mark, categories. e = half mark. H = worst rating, E h = middle rating, • Product Sustainability: empty = best rating Maximum of five positive (no criticisms). marks.

BRAND (out of 20) Ethiscore Reporting Environmental Climate Change Toxics & Pollution Habitats & Resources Oil Palm Testing Animal Farming Factory Animal Rights Human Rights Rights Workers’ Supply Chain Management Irresponsible Marketing Arms & Military Supply Technologies Controversial Call Boycott Activity Political Anti-Social Finance Ethos Company Product Sustainability COMPANY GROUP Wahaca 8 H H H H h H h Oaxaca Ltd. All Bar One/Harvester 7.5 H h H H H h H h Mitchells and Butlers Toby Carveries 7.5 H h H H H h H h Mitchells and Butlers Chiquito/Frankie & Benny’s 7.5 H h H H H h h h h The Restaurant Group plc Jamie’s Italian 7.5 H H H H h h H h Jamie T Oliver Wetherspoons 7.5 H h H H H h h h h JD Wetherspoons Bill’s 7 H H H H h H h H Bills Stores Topco Ltd. Giraffe 7 H h H H H h H h h Boparan Holdco/Invest Co 1 Slug & Lettuce 7 H h H H H H h H Stonegate/TDR Capital TGI Friday’s 7 H h H H H H H h Electra Private Equity Partners Yo! Sushi 7 H H H H h H h H Mayfair Equity Parters Beefeater/Brewers Fayre 6.5 h H H H H H h h h h Whitbread plc Nando’s 6.5 H H H H h h H h H L Perlman SECS Pizza Express 6.5 H H h H H h h H h h Hony Cptl/ Legend Holdings Gourmet Burger Kitchen 6 H H H H H h H h H Famous Brands Wagamama 6.5 H h H h H H h H h h Duke Street Capital Hungry Horse/Loch Fyne 6 H H H H h H H h H Greene King plc BellaItalia/CafeRouge/Iguanas 3.5 HH hHhHHhhh hh HH Apollo Global Management Pizza Hut 3.5 Hh hH HHHHH h HH YUM! Brands/Pizza Hut UK ASK Italian/Zizzi 3 HHHhH HHhHH H H Bridgepoint Group Ltd. Prezzo 3 Hh hH HHHhHh H HH TGP Capital

See all the research behind these ratings on www.ethicalconsumer.org. For definitions of all the categories go to www.ethicalconsumer.org/subscriberarea

34 Restaurants Product SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org GUIDE

Look for restaurants that are Choosing an m transparent about their supply nsu er o .o c r independent restaurant chains. Restaurants sourcing l g The Best Buy for this from small local producers will a

c guide is your local

As the score table opposite shows, there i

h

be more likely to have an idea of t vegan/veggie, ‘junk’ are no clear ethical front runners in the e what is happening in their supply Y chain restaurant world, which is why we B U food or community chains. You can always get in touch ES T B recommend finding a local independent restaurant. with restaurants and ask about their restaurant. However, just because a suppliers. restaurant is independent does not mean that it is more ethical – although your Wages and Modern Slavery RECOMMENDED money is probably less likely to be going towards a large private equity firm to be You can use the Living Wage Foundation’s invested in fossil fuels and mining. website to see which restaurants near you Wahaca came at the top of the table, So, what should we be looking for when are members of the Foundation (choose although it only achieved a score of 8. trying to find an ethical independent hospitality in the industry dropdown Jamie’s Italian scored 7.5 and restaurant and what should we be wary of? menu). also got a worst in Supply Chain While they do not perform well in Management, but did come out top Animal Rights terms of the Living Wage, large chain in the ‘Out to Lunch’ report (page 33) restaurants are probably less likely to be and had more sustainable (organic Look for restaurants where all the meat able to get away with unrecorded cash- and some free-range meat) options and dairy on offer is clearly labelled as free in-hand payments. You can view the full than other restaurants (see overleaf). range. Of course, choosing a vegetarian name and shame HMRC list of businesses restaurant is also a good option, and the which failed to pay the minimum wage on most fool-proof way of avoiding any the gov.uk website. animal rights issues is to find a vegan Larger companies are now required 8 restaurant. The Happy Cow website, to publish a Modern Slavery Statement www.happycow.net is a useful tool for which outlines what actions they are finding vegan and vegetarian restaurants taking to tackle slavery in their supply worldwide. Viva! has also just launched a chains. Smaller companies, however, are similar tool for vegan places – see page 6. not required to do this. The police and 7.5 Sourcing and supply chains anti-slavery organisations warn that there could be many people working as slaves Pretty much all the restaurants on the in the UK restaurant industry. Stronger table were shamefully vague about their Together has produced a briefing for the sourcing policies and practices, making it hospitality industry with specific advice difficult to judge whether they are really for restaurants and hotels.18 It stated living up to their claims of sustainability. that 1% of modern slavery victims were Check out the Real Junk Food Project exploited in restaurants but that the (therealjunkfoodproject.org) to find number could be far higher due to the restaurants near you that are serving food hidden nature of the crime. You can visit that would otherwise be wasted. You can www.salvationarmy.org.uk/ visit the Soil Association website to find spot-signs-modern- organic restaurants and cafes, go to www. slavery for further soilassociation.org/organic-living/buy- information. organic/organic-restaurants-and-cafes.

Score table highlights Essentially, when it comes to having clear and transparent There are a number of categories in which all the brands on policies and sound ethical practices in place around the this table score poorly: key issues relevant to the restaurant industry, all of the chain • All the brands lost a whole mark under Animal Rights, brands fall woefully short. Factory Farming and Palm Oil. So, while all scored similarly poorly in the above-mentioned • Most brands lost a whole mark for Environmental categories, the deciding factors putting some brands at the Reporting and Supply Chain Management and the rest bottom of the table were linked to input from private equity lost half a mark. firms. Many chain restaurants are backed by private equity • All the brands were marked down under Controversial firms that are also linked to fossil fuels, mining, defence, Technologies for lacking clear GMO policies. and high climate impact sectors. This means a number of restaurants also lost marks in categories relating to these • Nearly all brands were marked down under Workers’ factors. Rights. There also appeared to be a high rate of likely use of tax avoidance strategies among these companies and brands.

35 Product Restaurants GUIDE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org

Is there sustainability on the menu?

Brand Fair-trade? Free-range? Organic? Veggie? Labelled? Vegan? Labelled? Sustainable fish?

All Bar One Hot chocolate Eggs on menu No Yes, labelled Yes, labelled No info

ASK Italian No No No Yes, separate menu Yes, separate menu No info 2.5 blue MCS Beefeater No No No Yes, labelled Few, labelled rating Bella Italia No Eggs on menu No Yes, labelled Yes, labelled 3 blue MCS rating

Bill’s Ginger beer Eggs on menu No Yes, labelled Yes, labelled No info 2 blue MCS rating Brewers Fayre No No No Some, labelled Few, labelled and some labelled MSC fish on menu 3.5 blue MCS Café Rouge No Eggs on menu No Yes, labelled Some, labelled rating No (possibly some Chiquito No No Yes, labelled No No info eggs) No (possibly some Frankie & Benny’s No No Yes, labelled Some, labelled No info eggs) Giraffe No Eggs on menu Porridge Yes, labelled Not labelled No info Yes, refer to allergy Gourmet Burger Some, refer to Ginger beer No No menu and veggie N/A Kitchen allergy menu section for mains Harvester No Eggs on menu No Yes, labelled Yes, labelled No info 2.5 blue MCS Hungry Horse No Eggs on menu No Yes, labelled Few, labelled (2015) Some meat and eggs Beefburger, children’s Jamie’s Italian Karma Cola (labelled, menus vary meatballs, ice lollies, Yes, labelled Yes, labelled Named suppliers by location) some drinks (labelled) Rainforest Alliance Las Iguanas Eggs on menu Free baby food, sugar Yes, labelled Yes, labelled 3 blue MCS rating coffee Some, not labelled, Loch Fyne No No No Some, labelled Not labelled follows MCS guidelines Mainly sides, can Nando’s No Eggs on menu 2 soft drinks Yes, labelled filter online but N/A not labelled Pizza Express No Eggs on menu 1 wine, 1 beer Yes, labelled Some, labelled No info Fairtrade or Pizza Hut Rainforest Alliance Eggs on menu No Yes, labelled Yes, labelled No info coffee and tea Prezzo No Eggs on menu No Yes, labelled Not labelled 1 red rating MCS

Slug & Lettuce No No No Yes, labelled Yes, labelled No info States suppliers All eggs including TGI Fridays No No Yes, labelled Few, labelled must be MSC as an ingredient certified Eggs on breakfast menu Toby Carveries No and possibly some meat No Yes, labelled Yes, labelled No info (stated, not labelled) 3.5 blue MCS Wagamama No Most eggs No Yes, labelled Yes, labelled rating in 2015 All eggs including No endangered or Poblano peppers, Wahaca No any products Lots, labelled Vegan Menu breeding season. spelt containing eggs MCS audited Rainforest Alliance Some info. Scored Wetherspoons All whole eggs No Veg/Vegan Menu Veg/Vegan Menu coffee and tea 0.5 red by MCS 4 blue MCS rating Yo! Sushi No Some eggs No Yes, labelled Yes, labelled 2015 Zizzi No Some eggs No Yes, labelled Yes, labelled No info

36 Restaurants Product SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org GUIDE

of the better ones, serving some organic at fish sourcing policies and the Marine Key to the menu items in its children’s menu, including Conservation Society website and its one entirely organic dish. Wahaca and Fish2Fork ratings from 2017 and 2015. Fairtrade/Rainforest Alliance Las Iguanas also had some organic Restaurants were rated on a scale of 5 red These kinds of certifications still seem to ingredients and others had a few organic fish, the worst, to 5 blue fish, the best. be limited to a few drinks, if they appear drinks. Ratings improve, half a fish at a time, to anywhere at all. rise to 4.5 red fish, 4 red fish and so on Vegetarian and Vegan until 0.5 red fish. From here ratings rise Free Range Here there has clearly been significant from 0.5 blue fish to 5 blue fish. We would ask that restaurants start Most restaurants have now either improvement. Pretty much all restaurants working more closely with the MSC converted, or are in the process of had plenty of vegetarian options and a and start using the logo on their menus converting, to free-range eggs, although significant amount also catered well for to make it clearer to customers which not all of them specify that this covers all vegans. Only one restaurant, Chiquito, options are sustainable and to help raise products containing eggs. Jamie’s Italian had no vegan labelling on its menu. awareness of the issue of sustainable was the only restaurant to serve any free- fishing. range meat. Sustainable Fish This was a little harder to discern Organic – only one restaurant was using the Organic items are also sadly lacking from Marine Stewardship Council label on the menus. Again, Jamie’s Italian was one its actual menus. We also had to look

Hony Capital is a Chinese based investment firm which mainly The companies behind the invests in hospitality, pharmaceutical and building/engineering supply industries, both in China and abroad. Its investments brands include Pizza Express. Wahaca is still independently owned, which is not unrelated Greene King is a large pub chain and also owns Loch Fyne, to the fact that it came out at the top of the table. However, Hungry Horse and a chain of hotels. In 2016, HMRC finally while it may present itself as a sustainable and ethical restaurant won its case against Greene King for its use of a tax avoidance choice, it still only managed a score of 8 and, similar to the scheme called Project Sussex. It will recover £30 million from other brands on the table, its sourcing policies and reporting Greene King in unpaid taxes.19 The company has also been held failed to meet our standards. to account for marketing alcohol to children and scores poorly JD Wetherspoons is probably most frequently in the headlines across most of Ethical Consumer’s policy ratings.20 these days due to the owner’s strong Brexit stance, yet there has TPG Capital (Prezzo) holds investments in oil and gas industries been little external criticism of its ethical practices. The chain as well as coal mining. The San Francisco-based investment firm scores similarly poorly across policy and sourcing categories also has a dedicated biotechnology investment platform, and (environmental reporting, palm oil, animals). has investments in both genetic engineering companies and Jamie’s Italian came out on top in the Soil Association’s pharmaceuticals. children’s menu league table, which is perhaps unsurprising Bridgepoint Group is the ultimate controlling part of Ask and considering founder Jamie Oliver’s campaign work on school Zizzi restaurants through its investment in the Azzurri Group. meals. However, the company was still marked down for The private equity firm, based in London, also invests in a probable sale of factory-farmed animal products and likely use number of high climate change impact industries. It is also a of GMO animal feed. major investor in the fashion brand, Fat Face. Whitbread plc owns Beefeater and Brewers Fayre, as well Apollo Global Management is the ultimate controlling party as Costa Coffee and Premier Inn. Whitbread has a difficult of the three brands at the bottom of the table – Bella Italia, workers rights record as it was recently embroiled in a conflict Cafe Rouge and Las Iguanas – through its investment in Casual with Unite the Union which led it to quit the Ethical Trading Dining Group. This large private equity firm based in New York Initiative. Like the other companies on the table it has also also holds investments in Claire’s Accessories as well as various made no commitment to paying the Real Living Wage and even companies operating in the chemical, fossil fuel and defence publicly fought against the impact of introducing a National industries. Living Wage.

References: 1 ‘UK restaurant chains’ profits plummet 64% in one year as sector’s problems mount’, The Independent, 26 March 2018 2 ‘1,000 UK restaurants go bust in 2017 - is it just the beginning?’, www.accountsandlegal.co.uk, 21 February 2018 [Accessed 18 July 2018] 3 ‘Whitbread living wage warning raises fear of price rises and job cuts’, The Guardian, 8 September 2015 4 ‘Zizzi is cutting waiters’ tips to pay for their minimum wage rise’, Business Insider, 25 April 2016 5 www.gov.uk [Accessed 15 July 2018] 6 ‘Pizza Express: The war over tipping’, BBC Magazine, 4 September 2015 7 ‘Mexican-style Wahaca is latest food chain to be accused of unfair tipping policy’, The Guardian, 3 October 2015 8 ‘Jamie Oliver’s Italian restaurant chain under fire over tipping policy’, The Guardian, 30 September 2015 9 www.unitetheunion. org [Accessed 10 July 2018] 10 ‘TGI Fridays staff go on strike in UK’s first dispute over tipping’, The Guardian, 18 May 20181 11 ‘Employees in full-time jobs worse off than those on zero-hours contracts’, The Independent, 18 May 2017 12 www.gov.uk [Accessed 16 July 2018] 13 thesra.org [Accessed 10 July 2018] 14 ‘Britain’s booming restaurant culture fuels record childhood obesity levels ‘, The Telegraph, 7 January 2017 15 Out to Lunch 2017, The Soil Association 16 www.gov.uk [Accessed 6 July 2018] 17 thesra.org [Accessed 10 July 2018] 18 www.derbyshire.police.uk/Documents/Safety-Advice/HumanTrafficking/Hospitality.pdf [Accessed 16 July 2018] 19 economia.icaew.com/en/news/july-2016/hmrc-wins-project-sussex-tax-avoidance-case [Accessed 18 July 2018] 20 www.asa.org.uk/rulings/greene-king-retailing-limited- a17-387925.html [Accessed 18 July 2018]

37 Climate SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org

A dark day for the climate Just as we were going to press, we heard that the government has cranked up the climate thermostat with several 11th hour decisions. It’s a dark day for the climate says Friends of the Earth as the government sneaked out unpopular decisions on the last day of parliament on 24th July. They decided to give fracking the go-ahead at Cuadrilla’s site at Preston New Road in Lancashire, allow the continuation of coal, and make it harder for wind power to succeed. Friends of the Earth, said: “Here we are sweltering in the middle of a heatwave and the government’s actions are cranking up the thermostat on our already alarmingly warming climate. “A go-ahead for fracking, leaving the door open on dirty coal and scuppering renewables – this has been the government’s parting gift as they take off on holiday. “Sneaking these unpopular decisions out at the eleventh hour shows a brazen disregard for people everywhere suffering from climate chaos. “Today of all days, as Europe burns, and the UK is a tinder box, this is reckless behaviour towards our environment and the planet’s future.” Ireland becomes the first country to commit to carbon divestment Over the next five years Ireland’s sovereign wealth fund

will sell off its €300 million shares in coal, gas, shale and Greenpeace peat. In July, the Irish Fossil Fuel Divestment Bill passed through the lower house of parliament with all-party support. Well below par This pioneering step by the Irish government comes as During Donald Trump’s recent UK visit, Greenpeace somewhat of a surprise. Compared to other EU nations, Ireland challenged the President’s climate policies by flying a has been lagging behind on climate action in the wake of message over his golf course in Turnberry – “Trump: well the Paris Agreement. A government study found that Irish below par”. households emit 60% more carbon than the average EU home.1 The paraglider flew three miles across the Ayrshire This move is the clearest sign yet that Ireland is taking the issue countryside at 9.30pm – minutes after Trump arrived at the of climate change seriously. course – before circling the lawn in front of the Turnberry hotel where the US President was staying for the weekend. The Church of England vote to Greenpeace spokesperson Ben Stewart said: “Trump calls divest by 2023 climate change a ‘con job’ and a ‘myth’. He pulled America out of the Paris climate accord and overturned the Obama clean The Church of England’s national governing assembly, power plan that would have slashed American pollution. He’s the General Synod, voted almost unanimously to committed to burning more dirty coal and overturned the ban strengthen its divestment policy. Under the new policy on offshore Arctic oil drilling. And that’s before you even get the Church has committed to selling all of its holdings in to talking about separating kids from their parents and caging oil and gas companies which do not align their business them.” plans with the Paris Agreement by 2023. He added: “Theresa May should not have dignified Trump Christian Aid’s Head of UK Advocacy, Tom Viita, said: “This with a visit to the UK. The vast majority of British people are vote puts the oil majors on notice, and strengthens the arm of appalled by his words and deeds. He is, simply, the worst those pushing the companies to move more quickly to a low president ever. That’s why we flew over him with a message carbon future. If oil companies continue to drag their heels, branding him well below par.” there is nothing to stop the church divesting earlier if they, or Synod, are not satisfied with the speed of change.”

References: 1 www.ft.com/content/318f85c8-85ea-11e8-96dd-fa565ec55929 2 www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/12/ireland-becomes-worlds-first-country- to-divest-from-fossil-fuels

38 The ethical novice ethicalconsumer.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

Cars Colin Birch with a light-hearted guide to trying, and sometimes failing, to be ethical.

So, I’ve realised that, in the near much more concerned with the damage planet filled with people who think that future, I’m going to have to replace the environment was doing to my car. the Twizy is a good name for a car, then my car. It’s been making a lot of Now things are different, and I can’t maybe I should buy a second-hand diesel strange noises recently; ones that be ignorant of my thoughtless, uncaring with a dodgy exhaust right now. suggest that if it was a smart vehicle, actions – that’s something only BMW Perhaps I’m worrying too much given it would currently be programming drivers can be – so I’ve been looking at the technological advances being made Dignitas, Switzerland into its sat-nav. the possibility of by manufacturers. It also leaves a large carbon footprint an electric car. If you have a family, a car It looks like, in – or should that be tyre-print? Well, Now, electric cars the not too distant possibly not, given how little tread is have come a long feels like a necessity, if only future, we’ll all left on all of mine. way since the time because, in my case, it be travelling in when they couldn’t self-drive cars, I realise that having an older car come a long way occasionally stops me inflicting which, if they’re is not something I should admit to. – if someone drives the younger members of that still not great for However, much as I would love to live past you in one the environment, my life without one and have a clearer family on the outside world. now, you no longer should at least conscience, unfortunately, the shame I have to shout, remove the guilt feel at using my atmosphere-poisoning, “three pints of gold you’d normally feel finite-resource-guzzling personal top, please” at them, and going electric about driving them because you’re not automotive transportation device still won’t elicit the same response from your actually driving them. doesn’t quite match the shame I feel if friends that Bob Dylan got from his fans someone I know sees me using the bus. But, for now, if I’m not going to go in the 60s. electric, maybe I need to think smaller Being a fan of cars doesn’t There’s been a huge increase in the and look at the ways I can make a automatically – or manually for popularity of electric cars in the UK, traditional petrol or diesel engine car that matter – make me some sort of with more than 160,000 on the road, more fuel efficient and better for the environmental pariah. If you have a compared with just 3,500 in 2013, environment – I could fill its under- family, a car feels like a necessity, if only and, obviously, the plus points of inflated tyres, remove excess weight, because, in my case, it occasionally stops driving one are many and varied: from, avoid using air-con and keep the radiator me inflicting the younger members of that helping reduce the carbon emissions topped up, as they’ll all help. family on the outside world. that contribute to climate change to, But, as I’m trying hard to live more on a more personal level, knowing that ethically, I’ve started considering the in some small way you’ll be annoying environmental impact of any future Jeremy Clarkson. purchase for the first time. When I was a However, there’s one major issue I young driver I never realised the damage have with these vehicles: the godawful my car did to the environment – in fact, names they have. I cannot, in all as a stupid boy racer in a semi-rural area, seriousness, drive a car called a Nissan I drove into so many ditches that I was Leaf, any more than I could a Ford The plus points of driving an electric car are Petal or a Vauxhall many and varied: from, helping reduce the Tree-Bark. And, as for the Renault carbon emissions that contribute to climate Twizy, well it change to, on a more personal level, knowing may be great for Alternatively, if that’s too much effort, I that in some small way you’ll be annoying the future of the suppose I could just lie to everyone about planet, but if it’s its emissions levels … That’s quite popular Jeremy Clarkson. going to be a these days, apparently …

39 Feature SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org

Let’s talk about regenerative business

Drawing on eviewing companies’ Corporate So ... what does a Social Responsibility reports interviews and case is part of daily life at Ethical regenerative business Consumer.R We are accustomed to sifting studies, Anna Clayton through the greenwash to identify look like? businesses who genuinely aim to reduce Colin Baines, investment engagement explores the concepts their environmental and social impacts. manager, Friends Provident Foundation Occasionally, we come across a business said: “[When I hear ‘regenerative underlying the with an innovative governance structure business’] I automatically think co-ops that is striving for zero impacts. But is this and other businesses with a legal structure regenerative business. enough? that obliges them to operate in the best In the broader context of climate interests of the community, ideally change, loss of biodiversity, soil fertility, businesses that are owned, controlled and languages, culture and community life, run for the benefit of that community it seems that we urgently need to shift and seek to empower that community thinking from reducing impacts and to address its own needs and challenges. maintaining the status quo towards There are loads of community energy actively restoring degraded land and projects that are totally reinvigorating increasing the capacities of communities. sometimes quite deprived communities The process of healing, of regeneration, ... offering a myriad of benefits. [For can be observed in living systems, and has example] we invest in Awel Co-op – a two- inspired a number of global movements turbine project near Swansea. It generates to develop design frameworks informed £8,000- £9 000 a day (a working surplus) by nature, including the International that can be put straight into addressing Permaculture Movement, Holistic community needs. It wants to eradicate Land Management, and Regenerative fuel poverty in some pit villages and it is Agriculture. Observations from living generating thousands of pounds a day to systems can similarly be applied to do this.” businesses. Around Timbaktu’s nature school.

40 Feature ethicalconsumer.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

One of the texts that has wrestled a worker co-op bakery, (we have worked Two examples of with the question of what a regenerative with a few bakeries in the past), we can business would look like is Ethan Roland work with them and help them develop regenerative business and Gregory Landua’s ‘Regenerative their business. But we also helped out Enterprise’. It presents ‘Eight Forms of Leeds bread co-op a few years ago and, Timbaktu Collective Capital’ as an alternative economic model basically, we won’t take the knowledge we to the current financially driven one. They gained and just sell it. We will, instead, 2017 Lush Spring Prize winner, The argue that the amount of financial capital*, pay Leeds bread co-op what we would Timbaktu Collective, offers insight in the world is increasing exponentially, have been paid. Which, as it’s quite high on what an ecology of multi-capital but at the expense of the environment pay, can really help these co-ops become generating enterprises could look like. and people. They suggest that in addition more financially sustainable as well. This is It has developed a network of initiatives to financial capital (profits), businesses based on Co-ops principle six”. that are reviving the rural economy of a should aim to cultivate other forms of drought-prone region in Andhra Pradesh, capital, namely: social capital, material The regenerative South India. capital, living capital, intellectual capital, 9,000 acres of degraded village experiential capital, spiritual capital and business paradigm common land has been returned to 1 forest and grassland through grassroots cultural capital. Some more ideas are given by Carol reforestation efforts. Alongside this land Some people have concerns about Sandford, a key educator on regenerative regeneration, cultural systems have also these terms as they feel that calling things business. been remoulded. Two nature schools ‘capital’ implies that money can or ought She presents seven foundational to be made from them – however that principles for the regenerative paradigm, is not how the words are intended to be that draw on how things work in living understood in this case. systems:3,4 Roland and Landua define a 1. Work with wholes rather than parts ‘regenerative enterprise’ as “a venture (e.g. consider the interactions of a that proactively grows and cultivates the whole ecosystem, not just those of a foundational pools of social, cultural, tree). spiritual, and living capital by providing 2. Engage from potential, not ideals or goods and services in a way that creates problems. (Problems are variations net positive gains for the system as a from the ideal which will vary whole.” depending on person and place.) Qualitative growth (complexity and 3. Develop systemic reciprocity rather diversity) should be encouraged as than transactional exchange (move opposed to quantitative growth (increased away from the mentality of ‘I will do financial profits in the hands of the few). this for you if you do this for me’ as Living capital should only be traded if in we are all part of an interconnected surplus (this will be determined by the system). Around Timbaktu’s nature school. bio-productivity of a location) and should 4. Reveal essence not typologies or not be traded if it depletes the health of 2 categories. (Encourage and draw on the system. what is unique about a person or place.) They also suggest that it is difficult 5. Conceive of nested embedded life. for one business to cultivate all forms of (A worker is part of a team, which is capital alone. It therefore needs to form part of a company, a local economy, collaborative, symbiotic relationships with a community, a national economy, a other enterprises (creating Regenerative nation, and the world.) Enterprise Ecosystems), that collectively 6. Intervene at nodes, not with visioning. cultivate multiple forms of capital. Where (What one thing can you do that will this ecosystem has a specific focus, it may have a wider systemic effect? For be more likely to shift larger systems e.g. example, it has been suggested that by food supply chains. transforming business practice to be Mark Simmonds from Co-op Culture regenerative, it could have widespread says, along these lines: “[From my own effects for global supply chains and experience] what you really need is economy.) regenerative economies where you have a 7. Develop the capacity of beings (human network of regenerative businesses which and natural) rather than attempting to together could build [multiple forms of manipulate or control. capital] ... So that has become a bit of Timbaktu’s wormery – one of many a focus for our work at Co-op Culture. These seven first principles, along with the approaches to composting. Instead of focusing just on individual ‘Eight Forms of Capital’, could be used as enterprises we like to think of them as part a starting point from which to develop a of an enterprise ecosystem … I will give regenerative enterprise.5 *capital is defined as a valuable resource of a you an example, if we get approached by particular kind or anything that can enhance a person’s power to work in economically useful ways.

41 Feature SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org

Women’s coop meeting, Timbaktu.

have been established, one of which a nursery at Timbaktu, the organisation’s and increase resilience to climate change is residential and for children from central base. Trees and seeds were then by allowing the ground [it is used on] disadvantaged families. The schools teach taken by foot on journeys of at least five to retain more water during periods the national curriculum plus organic kilometers. Next came pots of water of drought and stay stable in times of agriculture and local cultural arts. balanced on people’s heads ... to water the flooding”.9 As it is a container-based A women’s thrift and credit system saplings. Babies and children were brought system, it is also easy to seal, collect and has now grown into a well-established along, tools were carried up and down remove containers hygienically without alternative banking system. Organic the hills ... After actively encouraging the need for an expensive urban sewerage farming training is offered to farmers plants and wildlife to return to the land, system. throughout Andhra Pradesh and has nature is beginning to look after itself. “Participating families pay a ... resulted in a number of co-operatives Birds are spreading seeds, and people are monthly fee (US$3-4) in exchange for being established, including a seed co- understanding the importance of leaving toilet installation, maintenance, and operative, a tree growers’ co-operative, an nature to evolve for itself, or at least to use weekly waste pickups”.9 Waste buckets organic growers’ co-operative, a women’s it in a sustainable manner.”7 are collected and delivered to a central co-operative and watershed co-operatives, depot, where they’re trucked out to the just to name a few.6 SOIL countryside for composting. After nine “Behind every tree is a story. Some were 2018 Spring Prize winner, Sustainable months the organic compost is ready for collected as seeds, and started their lives in Organic Integrated Livelihoods’ use and is sold to gardeners, farmers and (SOIL), delivers groups doing targeted reforestation work its ecological across the island.” sanitation service to more than 6,000 In conclusion... people in Haiti.8 Its Basically, there is no single answer to the waterless compost question, ‘what is a regenerative business?’ toilet helps to as the philosophy of regeneration “combat cholera, emphasises the development of unique, create employment, place-based designs that create systems boost crop yields ... that are conducive to life. But although sequester carbon, there may be no ‘best practice’ models, there are many answers being developed, A few of SOIL's both through theory and practice, that staff of nearly 100 can support the emergence of regenerative © Tony Marcelli Tony © in Northern Haiti. enterprises.

References: 1 www.regenterprise.com/regenerative-enterprise/ viewed 19/7/2018 2 https://medium.com/@designforsustainability/co-creating-regenerative- enterprises-20d9a3bc1c97 viewed 19/7/2018 3 https://vimeo.com/188563786?mc_cid=1d1ce353ea&mc_eid=963704e2de viewed 19/7/2018 4 https:// theregenerativebusinesssummit.com/regeneration 5 www.regenterprise.com/at-the-intersection-of-money-and-meaning/ viewed 19/7/2018 6 www.timbaktu.org/25-years- of-timbaktu-collective/ viewed 19/7/2018 7 Extract from Lessons on Regeneration: The Timbaktu Collective: https://uk.lush.com/article/lessons-regeneration-timbaktu- collective 8 https://www.oursoil.org 9 https://www.treehugger.com/bathroom-design/humble-toilet-bringing-health-and-hope-haiti.html?utm_content=bufferaf23f&utm_ medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

42 Fair Tax Mark ethicalconsumer.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

Fair Tax fortnight Fair Tax Fortnight (June 9–24) really helped push tax justice back up the national agenda. Questions were asked about Fair Tax in the House Meg Hiller MP, of Commons, Holyrood and the chair of the Welsh Assembly; fair tax events were Public Accounts Committee. held up and down the country; and a host of new accreditations were approved. Church Action for Tax Justice made the middle Sunday “Tax Justice Sunday”. Churches were encouraged to hold sermons on tax fairness, and Reverend David Haslam appeared on Radio 4 to debate tax justice with the far-right Institute of Economic Affairs (which does not disclose its funders, but it is fair to be driving forward the use of procurement to encourage good guess that there are plenty of tax dodging businesses among behaviour on tax, and look at what the next steps will be in them). the UK. Other events included film showings and a Parliamentary Barcelona is providing one model for how procurement Lunch, awareness days at Fair Tax Mark accredited businesses, approaches may change, and we are currently working to create and roundtable events at Christian Aid and The Co-op. a model for how we could adopt something similar in the UK. “We wanted to make sure that the fortnight was about all that If this is your area – keep your eyes peeled.” fair tax encompasses” said Fair Tax Mark chief executive Paul Monaghan. “That’s why we organised events around tax and New Fair Tax Mark accreditations inequality, gender, how social enterprises are affected; not just Seven new organisations were accredited by the Fair Tax Mark about the Fair Tax Mark.” during Fair Tax Fortnight – on the high street, the Timpson Group The future of fair tax around the world (which includes Max Spielmann, Snappy Snaps and Johnsons the Cleaners); in the union sector, the TUC; in finance, Earl “It was also important that we were able to look at what the Shilton Building Society, Ethical Screening and Ethical Investors; next steps around Fair Tax would be.” Monaghan said. in technology, Convivio; and in drama schools, Wild Things “One of the great things we were able to do was to take a Drama. look at what people around the world are doing on tax fairness. This means that over At our opening Fair Tax Conference, we had speeches from 2,000 more outlets around Meg Hiller MP, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, and the country can now show Margaret Hodge MP, chair of the APPG on Responsible Tax. the Fair Tax Mark, taking We also heard from the likes of Maggie Murphy from the number to over 6,500 Transparency International on global efforts to improve UK-wide. corporate transparency, and from Oxfam about responsible tax Frances O’Grady, TUC practices in developing countries. General Secretary, said: “The roundtable with Christian Aid was great in terms of “We’re proud to support looking at the public sector in the UK – an area which should the Fair Tax campaign. Our taxes fund schools, hospitals and so many other important services that we all rely on. Businesses depend on tax-funded services too. They get healthy and educated workers, roads to get goods to market, and law and order to protect them from rogue traders and crime. Firms that dodge their taxes are freeloading off the rest of us. James Timpson, Chief Executive, Timpson Group said: “We are happy and proud to pay our taxes and have always strived to pay tax in the spirit of the law, rather than pursue tax avoidance schemes, which albeit legal, hardly promote a level playing field or a fair contribution to the communities in which we trade.”

Funding, and next year’s fortnight This year’s Fair Tax Fortnight was generously enabled by the Friends Provident Foundation, the Joffe Charitable Trust and SSE Paul Monaghan, CEO of Fair Tax Mark and Paul Richard McCready, plc. Fair Tax Fortnight 2019 is now in planning. If you want to from the Scottish Co-operative Party. know more, sign up for its newsletter at www.fairtaxmark.net.

43 Money SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org

Greenpeace protests Barclays’ funding of tar sands pipelines Barclays is now the only UK bank that will still fund tar sands pipelines, after HSBC announced in April that it would no longer do so. On 19th July, 40 Greenpeace activists staged a protest at the bank’s London headquarters. Six climbers scaled the entrance’s portico and recreated a tar sands oil leak dripping down from the bank’s logo, while others went inside the

building and played messages about © Chris J Ratcliffe / Greenpeace tar sands on sound systems. sands oil spill is even worse than a normal crude oil spill- the Hannah Martin, oil campaigner for Greenpeace UK, oil sinks in water, making it almost impossible to clean up. said: “Barclays have been ignoring the damage their dirty We need to hold them to account for the damage they’re funding decisions are doing to the world, and to Indigenous causing.” communities in North America, so we’ve brought a little taste of what they’re trying to ignore right to their doorstep... Over 100,000 people have signed a petition asking Barclays to stop. It can be found here: secure.greenpeace. Tar sands are a climate disaster. Tar sands produce more org.uk/page/s/Barclays than twice the carbon of an average barrel of oil, and a tar

Stop Funding Hate campaign win Carbon divested funds: The Stop Funding Hate campaign has had a major financial performance success as countries agree not to fund media outlets who spread xenophobia. 190 countries have approved the 5 year cumulative Ethiscore Carbon divested fund performance to as of June text of a new international agreement - the UN Global 24/07/2018 2018 Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. It Janus Henderson Global outlines a range of measures for tackling xenophobia, Sustainable Equity Fund 94.2 6 which, after Stop Funding Hate’s input, includes: WHEB Sustainability 83.2 16 “...investing in ethical reporting standards and advertising, and stopping allocation of public funding or material support Triodos Sustainable Pioneer 74.5 15.5 to media outlets that systematically promote intolerance, Aviva Liontrust Sustainable Future 62.0 7 xenophobia, racism and other forms of discrimination towards European Growth migrants, in full respect for the freedom of the media”. Jupiter Ecology 58.5 6.5 The Stop Funding Hate Campaign, for which Ethical Data Quilter Cheviot Climate Assets 4 Consumer has provided research, attempts to persuade unavailable advertisers not to give money to newspapers, such as the Daily Sarasin Sustainable Equity Real Mail, that spread racism and other forms of hatred. Estate 46.9 7.5 The campaign said in a statement: “UN member states Castlefield BEST Sustainable 19.4 15 have clearly recognised that there is no contradiction between Income Fund respecting media freedom, and ensuring that media outlets who Standard Life Equity Impact n/a (fund is less 3.5 fuel racism and xenophobia are not actively given public funds. Global than 5 years old) The commitment from UN member states will set a precedent IA Global (for comparison) 66.5 for businesses, charities and NGOs to follow.” The agreement will be signed in Morocco in December. Data from trustnet.com

44 Save our bank ethicalconsumer.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 Keeping the faith Shaun Fensom and Ryan Brightwell report on the latest news from the Customer Union for Ethical Banking.

We want to see the bank defending the rights of transgender Values and Ethics Report people. We are proud of the stand it took against the anti-gay The Co-op Bank’s recently published Values and Ethics Report evangelicals Christian Voice back in 2005. But of course the for 2017 contained some reassuring news – along with some report raises a number of questions and many people have asked surprises. for more details. We’ve asked the bank if it can provide some The report is the bank’s account of how it has implemented background. its Ethical Policy throughout the year. Our aim at the Customer Another example in the report was the case of “an existing Union is to hold the bank to account on its ethical promises, so customer found to be involved in the online retail of luxury it makes important reading for us. accessories, including the sale of mink scarves.” We’ve asked the The report gives five instances where business was turned bank for more detail on this too – particularly given that it was an away because of breaches of the Ethical Policy. These included existing customer. the case of “a feminist group that actively denied the rights It’s good that the bank continues to refuse service on ethical of members of the transgender community … in breach of grounds, and a sign of its seriousness if it will do that when there our position on human rights, equality, and our diversity and is a risk of a negative reaction. However the number of accounts inclusion policies”. refused on these grounds is dwarfed by the 503 accounts closed We tweeted about this and – not surprisingly – it proved for reasons of ‘risk management’. This includes 24 cases that quite controversial. Following our tweet, the story was picked were referred to the bank’s new Exit Forum. The Exit Forum was up by both the Daily Mail – which saw an opportunity to make set up to monitor account closures, with special regard to the some mischief – and the Pink News, which took a very different Ethical Policy, and – hopefully – prevent a repeat of the closures approach to the story. of NGO accounts in 2015. When we reviewed the report for 2016 we stated that we would like to see more detail on the decisions taken by the Exit Forum, and we’ll be pushing the bank again to act on this. You can see the full Customer Union review of the report on the Save Our Bank website (https://saveourbank.coop). New CEO for bank The Co-op Bank has announced its new chief executive - the fifth in seven years. Andrew Bester will replace Liam Coleman, who is stepping down after 18 months in the job, and five years at the bank in total. Mr Bester was previously group director and chief executive of the Commercial Banking division at Lloyds Banking Group, where he also oversaw the diversity and inclusion strategy. Liam Coleman’s departure followed the appointment of a new chair, Bob Dench after the retirement of Denis Holt. With the new team in place we want to see the bank reinforce its ethical position as it returns to profitable trading. Renewed support for the Hive The Co-op Bank announce that it is continuing its support for The Hive for another three years. The Hive is a business support programme to help start and grow more cooperatives and community enterprises, and as the bank’s Values and Ethics Report shows, the initiative is thriving and growing, supporting over 355 groups and co-ops with expert advice worth over £100,000 in 2017, up from 86 groups last year.

For more information and to join the Customer Union for Ethical Banking go to www.saveourbank.coop

45 Feature SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org Where next for campaigning against the badger cull?

Under threat of legal ince 2013, the badger cull has begun ...and the rise of in England around mid August, once action from the Red harvests are in. Last year it ran for economic efficiency Sover three months, until any surviving Tractor scheme, Ethical badgers began hibernation. Without All the other living organisms, which any attempt to produce figures on the are not humans or livestock, can be an Consumer dropped its effectiveness of the program at combating annoyance to food producers. Insects and TB in cattle, the government announced fungi can damage crops, and wildlife can ‘Cartoons against the in May this year that the cull was likely damage productive areas and domestic to be extended from the current 21 zones animals. During the twentieth and twenty- cull’ crowdfunder. to ‘most of England’.1 And, as if to goad first centuries economic efficiency has campaigners further, they offered a bounty become prioritised over all other values, of £50 per badger eliminated. Last year with some campaigners, like the organic Rob Harrison explains. 19,724 badgers were killed in the cull.2 movement, fighting a rearguard action. To some degree a truce has been agreed, whereby farmers will be The demise of wild compensated by everyone else for putting animals... up with some annoyance from the few species that remain (e.g. set aside and Also in April this year, a group of scientists environmental grants). Populations published research which assessed the of wolves are protected in France, and comparative weight of all living organisms farmers are compensated for livestock on our planet. Amongst the many killed, and similar programs exist in Kenya fascinating results was the insight that of for livestock killed by lions. all mammals on the planet, 60% by weight In the UK farmers are already were livestock, 36% humans and just 4% compensated for livestock killed as 3 were wild animals. part of the TB control program, but an And the direction of travel for wild eradication program now appears to have animals does not look good either, with grown up in parallel to this on the flimsiest half being lost in the last 50 years. Badgers of scientific evidence. Is it any wonder that are the third largest land mammal type conservationists feel cheated? by weight still hanging on the UK, after deer and re-introduced wild boar. Their Boycotts and the population was estimated to be around 485,000 in 2017.4 badger cull In 2013 Ethical Consumer, alongside 60% other badger groups, tried to organise a Livestock boycott of milk from within the first two cull zones. However, it soon became clear that any producers and retailers offering 36% support were quickly coming under Humans intense pressure to backtrack, the organic movement refused to take sides, and in the end no clearly cull-free options could be found. Since then other campaign groups have been opposing the cull in a variety 4% of complementary ways, such as legal Wild Animals challenges and direct action. But the cull zones are still expanding. Boycotts are a good tool when useful dialogue appears to have come to an end. They are a blunt instrument and often only Of all the mammals on Earth, 96% are livestock and humans. Only 4% are wild animals. used as a last resort, but it would appear

46 Feature ethicalconsumer.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

to be logical for opponents of the cull to be able to avoid the produce of farmers Surveying our readers who are supporting or engaged in it. Following the legal challenge to our badger campaign, we asked our community Unfortunately, details of the cull zones are for ideas on how to adapt our campaign strategy in the final weeks before the cull kept secret by the government. is due to begin. This appears to leave campaigning We began with a question, asking “do you think a boycott of a company or consumers with little alternative but to organisation is a good tactic to add to the pressure to end the cull? 91% said yes boycott the produce of all English cattle and 9% said no. farmers, or at least those not publicly We then asked “do you have any other campaign ideas that Ethical Consumer distancing themselves from the cull. The might be able to work on over the coming weeks to help prevent the cull?” There vegan campaign group Viva have been were too many ideas to report here, but the main ones that appeared multiple running a ‘dump dairy save the badger’ times were: boycott campaign since 2011. Tell the truth about the cull With 91% in our survey supporting the The overarching message was aptly summarised by one subscriber who said idea of a boycott, Ethical Consumer has – “Tell the truth about badgers and bovine TB as widely as possible. Help people decided to take this forward as a general understand the facts and name who is behind any lies or misinformation.” call: ‘Boycott English dairy produce during the badger cull’. We will be announcing Collaborate with other badger action groups this as a campaign soon in our email “How about networking with other individuals and organisations who are against newsletter and via social media, and the badger cull and doing something together?” working with other groups to raise its “Work with other organisations against the cull on a united front against the big profile. business to stop them stopping you!” With a UK population of 485,000, Turn it into a positive campaign praising best practice? badgers are not on any endangered species “A farmers against culling scheme, where farmers blocking culling on their land lists yet. But with 20,000 killed in 2017 and could display a standard mark on their products to encourage consumers to buy.” with the cull areas potentially doubling “Perhaps a ‘Green Tractor Award’ scheme could be launched for farmers who in 2018, we might expect to lose another commit not to take part in the cull, so that their products can be promoted in 40,000 this year. As mentioned above, the supermarkets, enabling consumers to choose to buy only from farmers who are direction of travel for non-human animals opposed to the cull.” does not look good, and time is running Increase awareness through direct action out for the badgers if we cannot find a better solution for everyone now. “A protest at the culling sites, like the fox hunting protest.” Although we no longer want to use “Badger protest outside of the NFU and DEFRA headquarters, highlighting their cartoons about the Red Tractor scheme, closeness.” if anyone has cartoons generally about Focus on the dairy industry and veganism the cull they want to send us (enquiries@ “The only truly effective, long term approach, would be to continue to change ethicalconsumer.org), that would be great. public opinion to stop all animal agriculture, before we destroy the planet. Educate Here is one tweeted to us by folk in what really happens to sentient beings for the sake of profit alone.” CartoonRalph soon after our campaign “I really feel that showing the multitude of problems with dairy is the key was culled: campaign to hold.” Fight against this legal challenge “Assuming the legal threat is intended to silence you by draining resources, start another crowd funder to collect enough money to fight it off.”

In June, Ethical Consumer announced the launch of a crowdfunder for a new campaign called ‘cartoons against the cull’. We planned to offer prizes to cartoonists who could illustrate links between the Red Tractor label and the badger cull, as part of a prospective consumer boycott campaign. Within a week of it going live we were contacted by solicitors acting for the Red Tractor scheme. They suggested that cartoons used References viewed 17/7/18: 1 www.telegraph.co.uk/ on our funding page were potentially libellous for a number of reasons, news/2018/05/27/farmers-offered-50-kill-badger-cull- and that the campaign itself may also become so, and that they would rolled-across-england 2 Badger Culling in England, take legal action against us unless we removed them and ended the April 12, 2018 Badger Culls 2015-2017 House of campaign. Commons Library https://researchbriefings.parliament. We decided to take formal legal advice. The advice we received was uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN06837 3 www. that the cartoons could be libellous if they suggested direct involvement theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/21/human- race-just-001-of-all-life-but-has-destroyed-over-80-of- of the Red Tractor in the cull in any way, and that there would be wild-mammals-study 4 Abundance of badgers (Meles substantial costs and risks in going ahead with the campaign as it was. meles) in England and Wales, Johanna Judge et al We reluctantly took the view that we should end the campaign and (2017) www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-00378-3 refund our donors.

47 Subscriptions SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 www.ethicalconsumer.org

One year’s subscription includes: Six issues of the magazine (print and/or digital edition) Access to our subscriber-only website Access to over 130 product guides online with daily updated company scores, the stories behind the scores, customisable ratings, and downloadable back issues. Overseas Subscriptions Only £29.95 a year With print magazine £39.95 With digital magazine (pdf or flip book) £29.95

Give a Gift Subscription For every gift subscription, we will pay for a new organic olive tree sapling in Palestine, where olive trees and their harvest provide the livelihood for entire communities. Your gift subscriber will receive a certificate of sponsorship, plus a letter explaining this gift.

Sign up online www.ethicalconsumer.org/subscriptions or call 0161 226 2929 during office hours (10:00–17:00)

Next Issue Product guides to... Coming soon:

• paint

• coffee shops

• tea

• coffee

• garden centres

• compost ethical online retailers bookshops, ebooks, audiobooks

Next issue published tablets, e-readers streaming services vegan xmas mid-October

48 Letters ethicalconsumer.org SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

£4.25 EC173 July/August 2018 www.ethicalconsumer.org M&S’s use of palm oil is Ed: we currently leave it up to It’s prevalence in our food is out of hand consumers whether to try to not acceptable. I’d recommend I visit your website quite support the palm oil that comes people make their own bread frequently but I would really from the most certified sources, or using organic flour. Buy a bread like to challenge you on to avoid it altogether. But please machine if you feel you don’t have your rating of M&S as one see our palm oil free list for details time (often available second hand of the best supermarkets of how to do the latter. because people can’t be bothered for Palm Oil use. First off, after a while, or progress to making full disclosure, I do not Another reason to buy organic by hand). I use a mixer to make the dough and it only takes a few Is your margarine find any palm oil use Your article on bread was as well minutes of ‘hands-on’ time besides spreading deforestation? acceptable. I have been researched as ever and threw up the proving and baking. Obviously, Palm Oil Special lucky enough to have some surprising contradictions, We name the brands to avoid: I therefore know exactly what goes Butter & Spreads, Bread, Biscuits, Chocolate spent considerable time in such as the higher salt levels in Plus: New tax havens list into my bread and can make it South East Asia and have some supposedly healthier options. had the life changing as healthy as I want. I still find it I mostly make my own bread and experience of seeing Orangutans in incredible that this dubious farming occasionally buy from a local the wild. practice is allowed. independent organic bakery, which Andy, by email M&S may very well use so-called brings me to my point: a year ethical suppliers, but the breadth or two ago, Triodos Bank found Clean and Fair of their use within the products is that almost a third of commercial nothing short of breathtaking (and non-organic loaves tested in the There was no mention in your totally unnecessary). Barring one UK contained glyphosate because, feature about palm oil of Clean and or two, all of their puddings, cakes, unbelievably, some farmers are Fair, a company producing washing tarts, etc. contain palm oil. Most using the herbicide to kill the up liquid and hand wash using disturbing of all, and surely a new crop and harvest it early. I haven’t fair trade palm oil from Ghana. I low in palm oil use, M&S actually bought a non-organic loaf since, discovered this product during Fair put it in carbonated fruit drinks and try to avoid anything with Trade Fortnight earlier this year and – drinks!!! Just unbelievable. I am non-organic wheat in it. Whilst would be interested to hear your so enraged with the use of palm oil I realise you are not able to thoughts on fair trade palm oil. that I am considering setting up a carry out similar tests, I feel this Clean and Fair sell their products boycott page and yet I find here that important issue is worth a mention. in five litre bottles, reducing my you rate them top with Waitrose Glyphosate is a poison and even plastic use too. – astonishing. if we disregard the questionable Rebecca, by email What about Iceland who are practices of Monsanto who make Ed: Clean & Fair is from Traidcraft committed to using no Palm Oil? I it, and that it is supposed to break whose Fairpalm biscuits featured in believe the Co-op now has a Palm down in the soil, it was never our guide in the last issue. Oil reduction programme. M&S designed to be used in this way. continue to add it to lines that previously didn’t contain it (see quiches for one) honestly if they are We welcome readers’ letters. Letters may be edited for reasons of the best, what hope do the forests of space or clarity. If you do not want letters to be published, please South East Asia have? I urge you to mark them ‘Not for publication’. Our address is on the contents page, update and reconsider your position. or email us at [email protected] Grant, by email

49 Inside View SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 ethicalconsumer.org Banking on the bike

How realistic is the goal of replacing the car with the bike, asks Simon Birch?

“Demand for deliveries to door and desk is booming but our cities just can’t cope with ever-increasing numbers of diesel vans contributing to the toxic mix of poor air-quality and increased congestion,” says Rob King, co-founder of Zedify, a newly launched cargo bike delivery service. With branches across the UK including London and Glasgow, Zedify uses a fleet of electric cargo bikes for last mile deliveries which are already a common sight across Germany and the Netherlands. EU research now suggests that around 50 per cent of deliveries in cities could be made by cargo bike.1 And just this spring Sainsbury’s became

Photo credit: zedify.co.uk Photo credit: the first UK supermarket to trial deliveries Cargo bikes could replace around half of all polluting delivery trucks in urban areas. by electric cargo bikes in south London. But the thing that most fills Roger ust like Fairtrade bananas and organic “Car sharing is increasingly popular Geffen with optimism for the future of bread, we all know that when it comes with younger generations who are biking in the UK is that finally, Dutch style to ethics, bikes are clearly a Good much more used to the booming shared cycle planning has arrived here in the UK. J Thing. economy such as AirBnB and this makes “The single most effective way to But could we feasibly ever ditch our it possible to envisage a future in which encourage greater levels of cycling is to addiction to the car in favour of the bike private car ownership declines,” explains redesign our streets and road junctions to and surely the car will always play a role in Geffen. be cycle friendly,” says Geffen. our transport system? “Plus younger people are less attached The good news is that this is exactly Well first let’s take a look at how to the car as a status symbol and once what’s going to be rolled out across Greater the bike currently features in the UK’s you start to get into the habit of moving Manchester over the next four years. transport mix and brace yourselves, it’s not around without a private car, then your Launched earlier this summer, Beelines great news. whole travel behaviour changes.” is a £1.5bn project that will deliver a The UK has With this thousand miles of safe cycling and walking routes across the county with the aim one of the lowest Younger people are less generational shift rates of cycling away from private of being the largest joined-up system of in Europe, whilst attached to the car as a status car ownership, cycling and walking in the UK. the Netherlands, symbol. Geffen believes this “Beelines is precisely the kind of famously, has one will open the way visionary project we need,” says Geffen. of the highest. for an increase in “It will take time to implement, but the “It will take around 30 to 40 years the use of bikes, especially in towns and whole point is that it’s a network and not for the UK to catch up to where the cities. just a series of isolated cycle lanes here Netherlands are today,” admits Roger Geffen is also upbeat about the and there. What’s really interesting is that Geffen from Cycling UK, the campaign increasing use of cargo bikes for last mile it’s a comprehensive plan which takes the group that works to promote cycling deliveries, the term used to describe the network down to the level of schools and across the UK. way in which parcels and packages are local shops,” says Geffen. So much for the bad news. delivered to a customers’ front door. “The Dutch have been doing this for a According to Geffen though there’s A bike the length of a tandem with a very long time,” adds Geffen, “but the idea plenty to be optimistic about when it container positioned between the saddle that we can do it here in the UK has only comes to boosting the bike across the UK: and the rear wheel, cargo bikes are being just really started to sink in.” “There’s now an opportunity to hailed as a way to reduce the use of effectively replace a large proportion of delivery vans and trucks in urban areas, private car ownership, particularly in something which in turn will help to References: 1 http://cyclelogistics.eu/docs/111/D6_9_ urban areas with shared car ownership.” dramatically cut levels of air pollution. FPR_Cyclelogistics_print_single_pages_final.pdf

50 YNNI TEG ADVERTS FOR PRESS.qxp_PANTS NEW ADVERT 27/07/2018 11:59 Page 1

(Welsh for Fair Energy) Join the community energy revolution: Your last chance to co-own our wind turbine in Wales The share offer for the YnNi Teg turbine in Carmarthenshire Buy shares for as little as £100 to become will be closing on 28th September, apply now for shares a member of YnNi Teg, a co-owner of our via YnNiTeg.cymru 900kW wind turbine in Carmarthenshire By buying shares in YnNi Teg, you will be helping us to and tackle climate change while supporting generate 2,000 MWh of green energy per year, enough to clean, green energy. supply about 650 homes plus you will get a projected 5% After payment of a projected 5% annual average return on your shares. interest to shareholders, surplus income will go to a local community fund and help www.YnNiTeg.cymru Community Energy Wales support similar projects across Wales. YnNi Teg Cyf is a community benefit society registered no. 7637 with the Financial Conduct Authority. Shares in YnNi Teg are projected to return 5% on average to members across the lifetime of the turbine, Visit YnNiTeg.cymru to download the full dependent on performance. Full details of the society, financial projections and application of surplus for share offer document. community benefit are described in the share offer document.

Biona organic sweet treats naturally good fun

Our jellies are vegan, free from artificial flavourings, colourings, and gluten. Crammed with irresistible natural sweetness, these delicious jellies are for the whole family to enjoy! tasty little bites  no gelatine  gluten free  organic  vegan Available from: visit us at www.biona.co.uk CAPITAL AT RISK. INVESTMENTS ARE LONG TERM AND MAY NOT abundanceinvestment.com BE READILY REALISABLE. ABUNDANCE IS AUTHORISED AND REGULATED BY THE FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY (525432).

YOU WANT: A nice planet to retire to YOU NEED: To save for your retirement

ISAs for people exactly like you (although some actually like wearing hats)

Why The Phone Co-op? Reason #7 We have honest and transparent pricing with no ‘bill surprises’ at the end of the month. You choose your network and how much you spend every month.

Search 10 reasons why The Phone Co-op is Good for Business

www.thephone.coop/ethicalconsumer