Business Quarterly Newsletter Issue 2

Ethical Consumer’s Business Quarterly Newsletter 

Our Business Quarterly Newsletter provides:

• latest information from our Best Buy Label community
• recent and upcoming research and shopping guides from Ethical Consumer
• case studies on ethical businesses
• ethical market insights from our researchers
• updates on our annual conference and how you can get involved
• opportunities on how to connect with other organisations or work with EC

If you sign up to our Ethical Business email list, you will get a short email summary each time notifying you that we’ve uploaded the next edition to our research site.

April 2026

Welcome to our second Ethical Consumer Business Quarterly, created for organisations, charities, social enterprises and more. We had some great feedback from our first edition, so thank you if you took the time to read it. We are really enjoying the continued opportunity to connect directly with the many companies and organisations that we have built relationships with over the years. 

As always, we welcome any feedback and ideas you have to help us shape this project in the coming months.

Planning for 2026-27

The beginning of 2026 saw Ethical Consumer hold its political strategy day, which informs much of the direction of work we do. We agreed that our work on Challenging Corporate Power remains our focus. We will focus on helping people and organisations to:

• challenge corporate power through informed buying choices and political action
• challenge the rise of tech monopolies, AI and the far right
• protect nature, the climate and biodiversity by celebrating ideas of degrowth, slowing down and analogue lifestyles.

Research planned for the next 12 months

Partly as a result of this, and partly because of strong demand from our readers, we agreed to focus our research for the July/August issue on the following four buyers guides:

• AI tools and LLMs (large language models like ChatGPT)
• web browsers
• search engines, and
• social media

If you have any comments about ethical approaches that your business or organisation has taken to Big Tech we’d be interested to hear about it, so do get in touch.

We’ve already been quoted on this topic in The Guardian, who has also been asking similar questions.

In the last few months we’ve published new guides on travel companies, electric cars, sunscreen and fast food chains, amongst others. You can see what shopping guides are in each issue on the main web page for the magazine. 

Later in 2026 we’ll be grappling with the latest ethical issues arising in the perennially-troubled clothing sector with reports on high street clothes shops and alternative brands too.

Best Buy label news

Our Best Buy Label is the last word on ethical labelling, making it even easier to find the products and services that reflect consumer principles.

It’s been another busy quarter for ethical businesses, where we’ve seen several more companies sign up for our Best Buy Label. With this accreditation, companies can take pride in knowing their product or service is the gold standard in ethical shopping.

Newly joined 

German company Stiebel Eltron, one of our most recent sign-ups, has topped the table in our guide to heat pumps.

Q&A with Castlefield, Best Buy Label holder

Castlefield, a recent Best Buy Label holder for its role as a financial advisor, is an award-winning, employee-owned ethical investment and advice group based in Manchester but operating nationally.

Their high scores in both our UK Ethical Investment Funds and Fossil Free Fuel Investment Funds guides reflect the values embedded in their company, and they sat down with us to talk more about what sets them apart.

They said “What differentiates Castlefield from other ethical investment funds is our proprietary Thoughtful Investor ® approach, which includes active ongoing engagement with investments on behalf of our clients."

“Thoughtfulness and Sustainability are now recognised drivers of innovation and efficiency. By embracing sustainable practices, companies can turn responsible choices into a competitive advantage.”

“For anyone wanting their money to reflect their values, the key is looking beyond marketing. Examine what a fund actually holds, understand its strategy, and ask how decisions are made in practice. A genuinely responsible manager doesn’t just select companies and step back - they actively engage with businesses to improve environmental, social, and governance practices over time.”

Read the full Q&A with Castlefield on our website. 

New Community Best Buy Label

February also saw the launch of our new Community Best Buy Label. This version of our ethical accreditation scheme is designed for small scale ethical and eco businesses with an annual turnover below £100,000.

Community-rooted businesses, sole traders, artisan producers and other small scale innovators are often excluded from our reports and from conventional ethical certification schemes, so the Community Best Buy was established to spotlight companies which are built on care, not on scale.

Our pioneer accreditees were:

• Anything But Plastic: online retailer
• Good Green Money: ethical financial advisor

Since its launch we’ve been approached by a few other community businesses whose accreditations we’ll likely announce soon.

Ethical Consumer Conference 2026

Though still in early planning stages, our autumn 2026 conference is already at the forefront of our minds. It’s our annual opportunity to come together in person to learn, discuss and build solidarity. 

It is highly likely that our theme this year will be based around AI and how we can find ethical solutions for both consumers and businesses.

If your company or organisation is working in or around the field of AI and ‘big tech’ we would love to hear from you as we start to create our conference programme.

Climate Gap: food focus

Our 2025 Climate Gap Report, published in October 2025, is free to download and details progress towards sustainable consumer lifestyles in the UK. 

In the first quarter of 2026-27 we look at food, which accounts for about 26% of total UK emissions.

There were a number of suggested actions for companies to take:

• better carbon labelling of food products
• more plant-based options
• more investment alternatives
• support the Climate and Nature Bill
• reduce supply chain food waste
• report on food waste annually

The report also suggested that organisations should consider supporting campaigns working to tackle the impact of food-based carbon emissions. As well as the Climate and Nature Bill, Food Rise and WRAP were identified two other great places to start.

Letters and feedback from ethical businesses 

From Independent Hostels:

“It’s great to read such a glowing celebration of hostels as ethical tourist accommodation in the latest edition of Ethical Consumer Magazine. A big win for hostels and for the environment! The article recommends avoiding the large booking sites and booking direct with accommodation providers as a way of keeping your travel investment within the local community — something the Independent Hostels network has always promoted. The Independent Hostel Guide has been awarded Ethical Consumer’s prestigious Best Buy label, and our website - where every booking is a direct booking - is ranked as the UK’s third most ethical travel booking platform.”

Samantha Rossiter via Linkedin (Independent Hostels is in the travel guide, featured in issue 219)

A dodgy partner or the perfect match?

Do you need to check out the ethics of your suppliers or the organisations you work with? 

Working with organisations that share your values can be an important way to increase your positive impact on the world.

Ethical Consumer’s Business Research Tools help you increase your positive social impact with high quality insights into partners and suppliers.

All year round Ethical Consumer’s researchers undertake detailed, independent analyses of companies’:

• carbon reduction plans
• approaches to workers’ rights
• claims around purpose and ethics
• tax avoidance behaviours… and much more

Contact us to find out how our services can give you trusted insights into the ethical performance of your partners and suppliers, so that you can work with organisations that share your values for positive gain. 

Ethical business news

Highlights from a couple of positive ethical business news stories.

Forest Green makes switch to Gaza Cola

Dale Vince, owner of Forest Green Rovers has announced his plan to introduce Gaza Cola at The New Lawn Stadium. This move aligns with the club's already existing commitment to ethical sourcing and global solidarity.

Dale Vince told Stroud Times: “I only just learned of Gaza Cola and we’re looking to source that now — it’s the perfect answer for us, to the problem of how to stock a popular fizzy drink without supporting bad things happening in the world.”

This move was made alongside Dale Vince’s other enterprise, green energy company Ecotricity, vowing to change its insurers following appearing on a panel on Palestine at Ethical Consumer’s  2025 conference.

“We heard [at the conference] from people who look into insurance companies and where they put their money,” said Vince, “We will look into where our insurance company puts its money and we will change if we find there’s any badness in there.” (Source - Ethical Consumer Magazine Issue 219).

Ethical Market Insights 

In March Kantar released a new report called: "Building effective sustainability marketing in 2026."

In it they argued that brands "need a new approach to sustainability if they are to appeal to 2026 overwhelmed consumers. They need to help people act, not ask them to care more."

They found that climate and environmental momentum had softened but that "it remained the number two global concern based on unprompted mentions. Momentum and the importance of tackling inequality and social justice remain strong."

Their Sustainability Sector Index revealed that expectations remain high but trust and attention are fragile. Across 12 countries and 42 sectors, people wanted less noise and more proof, fewer promises and more progress.

Their recommended five actions were:

• Don't dial back
• Be meaningfully different for people
• Champion topics for trust and equality
• Be inclusive
• Offer a way forward.

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