We pride ourselves on ensuring we minimise our own environmental impacts and carefully assess our supply chain.
Below you can find information on all our ethical policies.
We are committed to paying all the taxes that we owe in accordance with the spirit of all tax laws that apply to our operations.
We believe that paying our taxes in this way is the clearest indication we can give of our being responsible participants in society. We will fulfil our commitment to paying the appropriate taxes that we owe by seeking to pay the right amount of tax (but no more), at the right rate, in the right place and at the right time.
We aim to do this by ensuring that we report our tax affairs in ways that reflect the economic reality of the transactions we actually undertake in the course of our trade.
What we will not ever do is seek to use those options made available in tax law or the allowances and reliefs that it provides in ways that are contrary to the spirit of the law. Nor will we undertake specific transactions with the sole or main aim of securing tax advantages that would otherwise not be available to us based on the reality of the trade that we undertake.
As a result the company will never undertake transactions that would require notification to HM Revenue & Customs under the Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes Regulations or participate in any arrangement to which it might be reasonable anticipated that the UKís General Anti-Abuse Rule might apply. We believe tax havens undermine the UK’s tax system.
As a result whilst we will trade with customers and suppliers genuinely located in places considered to be tax havens we will not make use of those places to secure a tax advantage, and nor will we take advantage of the secrecy that many such jurisdictions provide for transactions recorded within them.
Our accounts will be prepared in compliance with this policy and will seek to provide all that information that users, including HM Revenue & Customs, might need to properly appraise our tax position. We will review this policy with our accountants annually to ensure that it is complied with.
Ethical Consumer was first awarded the Fair Tax Mark in November 2017, and the latest compliance statement for fair tax is available below.
Read the ECRA Fair Tax Compliance Statement 2024-25 (opens as pdf)
Last updated March 2025
The following is Ethical Consumer Research Association's code of conduct (supply chain policy) for workers in its supply chain.
This code is a direct copy of the headings in the ETI Base Code. For the details under each heading we use the ETI definitions available here.
We have communicated this code (below) to all our first tier suppliers.
ECRA is not a member of any multi-stakeholder initiatives.
ECRA is yet to formally audit any of its suppliers but does carry out an ethical screening of each one for purposes of due diligence. As a result our first tier suppliers have been deemed low risk as they are mostly UK-based, or technology companies, and not industries known for exploiting vulnerable groups such as illegal immigrants.
We have long term, face to face, relationships with many of our suppliers. Ethics are taken into consideration when we choose suppliers.
We screen suppliers against the standard ethical consumer rating criteria and will only work with companies scoring below 50 when there are exceptional circumstances.
We have a policy of complete disclosure of all our first tier suppliers.
Technology and computer systems
Printing and print distribution
Office and business
-
We are an accredited Living Wage employer.
-
Last updated September 2023
Main products/processes/activities:
Production of printed material
Distribution of printed material
Production of a rating database and websites
About Ethical Consumer
ECRA Publishing Limited is a multi-stakeholder co-operative (Company Registration Number 30575 R) which was formed in 1989 to research and publish information on the companies behind brand names, and to promote the ethical use of consumer power.
We are aware that our activities have an impact on the environment and seek to minimise this.
We respect the principle of Sustainable Development and aim to work in away that meets the needs of today’s generation whilst ensuring that future generations can also meet their needs.
We are committed to:
We are working on an new environmental policy and will link to it here once it is finalised.
In June 2014 the ECRA management team, composed of worker-members of the co-operative, passed a proposal to support BDS. In doing so, two issues were of primary consideration:
1) The grave human rights abuses committed by the Israeli state against Palestinian people. A vast number of these violations are illegal under international law.
2) The fact that BDS is supported by a broad coalition of Palestinian civil society organisations.
ECRA recognises that:
Accordingly, we support the BDS movement and abide by its principles. Read more about our support for BDS on our separate page.
For more information, please see the BDS Movement website.
Last updated March 2022
We have joined Business Declares, a non-profit organisation which aims to raise awareness across the business sector of the imperative to accelerate action to address climate change, biodiversity loss and social injustice:
Business Declares believes that business has a major part to play in tackling the climate, ecological and social emergency.
Membership of Business Declares includes setting targets and a creating a plan for our climate transition as an organisation. Business Declares has approved our declaration and carbon reduction plan, which is available to download.
A requirement of Business Declares is to publish our statement, which is set out below:
"In acknowledgement of the escalating, interdependent crises the world faces, and together with other Business Declares members, we declare there is a climate, ecological and social emergency.
We make this declaration with urgency and in certainty that the impacts these crises will have on our society and economy, let alone the environment, will be near-term, fundamental and far reaching for all including ourselves, our business and our stakeholders.
Our declaration, in line with the Business Declares Manifesto, and building on our plans and progress to date (see link to plan above) is underpinned by our commitment to:
Doing this in solidarity with others will have far greater power, and so please join us. Together, let's join forces and create the future we want."
Ethical Consumer has shopping links to a number of online stores on our product guide and other pages.
Ethical Consumer makes a small amount of money from purchases you make from the sites we feature on the product guide pages specifically those featured in the “places to buy” box under the company score tables and a limited number on other pages that are marked with a *.
We encourage all our readers to use these links where possible as the money we make from these links helps fund our research and campaigning.
We ethically screen all the sites we link to. We have affiliate links through Awin, Impact and Webgains online platforms and several direct arrangements.
Below is a list of companies we link with.
Abel & Cole (groceries)
BAM (Bamboo clothing)
Big Green Smile UK (toiletries)
Brothers We Stand (clothing)
Bumboo (toilet paper)
Divine Chocolate (chocolate)
Ethical Shop (gifts, home, toiletries)
Ethical Superstore (groceries, clothing, home, toiletries etc)
Green People (toiletries)
Honest Mobile (mobile phone network)
Inov-8 (footwear)
John Lewis (for home appliances)
Kuyichi (clothing)
Meaningful Planet (mobile phone network)
Miniml (cleaning products)
MUD Jeans (clothing)
Neal's Yard Remedies (toiletries)
Odylique (toiletries)
Oxfam Online Shop (books, gifts)
Pico (Clothing)
Riverford Organics (food)
THTC (clothing)
Who Gives a Crap (toilet paper)
Wills Vegan Shoes (footwear)
YoYo (Zero Waste Bulk Foods - online retailer)
Your Coop (broadband and mobile phone)
List updated May 2026
We ethically screen our advertisers against our ethical ratings criteria before accepting advertising and reserve the right to refuse any advert.
Current / recent advertisers on the site include:
Updated list April 2026
Ethical Consumer has developed an AI policy, governing our approach to using AI within our work.
A link to the full policy is at the end of the summary.
Summary
At Ethical Consumer, we believe technology should serve people and planet, not exploit them.
The rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) raises urgent ethical concerns: from mass data extraction and surveillance, to labour rights violations, environmental damage, and the entrenchment of corporate power.
Our stance:
We use AI tools cautiously and critically, always guided by our values. Where we do experiment with AI, we will make that transparent. Where AI undermines our mission, we will resist.
Ethical Consumer exists to imagine and build a fairer economy, including aligning with degrowth principles. AI, like any tool, must be judged on its practice, not on its promise.
Please note this AI policy is subject to change as new research emerges, technology evolves and our understanding deepens. We reserve the right to update this policy at any time.
(Version 1, May 2026)
Read the full AI policy (opens as a .pdf)
Click for the full terms and conditions for the newsletter giveaways. (Opens as pdf)
All the information and inspiration you need to join thousands of others and revolutionise the way you shop, save and live. Full online access to our unique shopping guides, ethical rankings and company profiles. The essential ethical print magazine.
We always check the ethics of our advertisers