Shopping to help others
More people in the UK are choosing to spend their money on “ethical” shopping, according to the Fairtrade Foundation. Ethical shopping means buying things that do not harm people, animals or the environment when they are produced.
The Fairtrade Foundation is an organisation based in the UK that helps farmers and workers in poorer parts of the world to earn enough money to live comfortably. It does this by asking companies that grow products such as bananas or coffee to provide safe working conditions and pay their workers fair wages. The company can then sell its products with a Fairtrade mark so buyers know they are shopping ethically.
Michael Gidney, from the Fairtrade Foundation, said it expects to have made more than £13 million from sales in the UK last year, an increase from £12.8 million in 2022. Last year was a challenging time for the UK economy (how a country organises its money and workers). The effects of the Covid pandemic, and
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, pushed up the prices of food and energy, so people had less money to spend. However, the growth in ethical spending shows that many people care about how their spending affects others. “British shoppers do not trade down on their values when times are tough,” Gidney said.
Millions of people in 70 countries benefit from the Fairtrade Foundation’s work, including projects supporting schools, healthcare and clean water. This year the foundation marks 30 years since the Fairtrade programme began. There are also organisations like Rainforest Alliance running ethical shopping schemes. Gidney said the growth in ethical shopping proves to big companies that more people want to buy goods that treat workers, animals and the planet well. “We are winning the argument that trade can be sustainable (does not harm the environment) and fair for people and planet,” he said.