Spotlight on Political Activity

This summer sees a new-look Ethical Consumer magazine, including more colour, new features and an overall design revamp. It also sets out the results of ECRA's overhaul of the categories we use to rate companies.

Most importantly, the Political Donations category has been widened and redefined as Political Activity.

Over the last five years, the campaign group sector has enormously increased its scrutiny of the political activities of transnational corporations, as the true extent of their stranglehold over democratic institutions becomes clear. At the forefront of this movement have been the development and environment NGOs involved in peaceful anti-globalisation protests against the World Trade Organisation in Seattle and elsewhere.

During this period, ECRA has used its Alert column to identify the companies involved via an increasingly obscure range of acronyms. At the same time, corporate involvement in direct funding of national political parties in the UK has fallen and use of our old Political Donations column was becoming less frequent.

The new Political Activity column now identifies both direct and indirect funding of political parties, as well as lobbying for trade liberalisation at the expense of the environment, human rights, animal welfare or health protection.

A feature article in the June/July issue explains in detail how ECRA's rating system has changed.

Ethical Consumer...

is the UK's leading alternative consumer organization

maintains the most comprehensive database of corporate ethics in the world - tracking over 30,000 companies, compiled over 20 years, updated daily by dedicated researchers

employs a unique ethical scoring system - ethiscore - constantly informed by the leading edge of campaign groups

is a not-for-profit worker's co-operative completely independent of corporate interests

Ethical Consumer's unique ethiscore system rates companies on their social, ethical and environmental performance. Companies are rated in over twenty categories across four main headings - Environment, Human rights, Animal rights, Politics. Products are then rated for their positive ethical and sustainability features.

For more information on the ethiscore rating system click here.