Our manifesto
Our focus on energy is part of our wider vision for a zero carbon Britain
Our mission to end the use of fossil fuels is part of our wider agenda, as set out by our founder Dale Vince in his book, Manifesto.
In Manifesto, Dale explains how the climate emergency needs to be tackled across the three key areas of the economy that generate the most carbon emissions: energy, transport and food.
In Energy
As Britain’s leading green energy company, Ecotricity supplies green electricity and gas to homes and businesses across the UK. We’ve built wind and sun mills up and down the country and supply our customers with 100% green electricity. Now we’re leading the way by building green gasmills with the aim of making Britain’s gas supply 100% sustainable. See the Our green energy section of our site for more details on our ventures in energy.
In Transport
One of our main initiatives in transport was The Electric Highway, a charging network for electric vehicles across Britain, which we sold to Gridserve in 2021. Using The Electric Highway, motorists could charge their EVs using clean, green electricity, generated renewably with wind and sun power. We've also been active in the development of high performance electric cars and motorbikes.
We've also brought back our EV tariff which offers competitive off-peak pricing, so customers can charge their EVs at night for less.
In Food
Our energy and food commitments intersect with our provision of vegan certified energy. The factory farming of animals is a huge contributor to global carbon emissions and by products of this industrial model are used to generate electricity. We'll have no part in that. In addition, The Devil’s Kitchen is one of our sister companies in the Green Britain Group. It already produces vegan food which is served at Forest Green Rovers FC, provides healthy dinners to schools and will soon be available in the shops.
To find out how much carbon your Energy, Transport and Food generates each year, use our Carbon Footprint Calculator. You can then take steps to reduce or offset your personal or household impact.
Lobbying the UK government
Since Ecotricity was founded in 1995, Britain has increased its green energy output from 3% to 33%, but there’s still a long way to go. That’s why we’ve been lobbying the UK government to pursue wider reaching and more determined policies to address the climate emergency.
To make our case, we asked the independent consultancy Cambridge Econometrics to model the economic impacts of a future green Britain – one with more ambitious carbon emissions targets, more renewable energy and the use of electric vehicles. The study revealed a wide range of benefits including an increase in GDP of up to £5 billion, a saving of £8 billion on oil imports and £1.25 billion-worth in health and environmental benefits.
Our suggestions to the government include:
Appointing a Minister for Carbon – to set carbon limits across economic sectors
Achieving 80% renewable energy by 2030 – saving £11.7 billion in fossil fuel costs
Implementing ‘Quantitative Greening’ – quantitative easing by the Bank of England, going directly into the renewables sector
Ending fossil fuel subsidies – by 2025
Supporting electric vehicles – let’s scrap VAT on EVs and make sure all cars are electric by 2030
People sometimes think that going green means that you have to give something up, or that it’s all about saving polar bears. In fact, going green represents a huge opportunity for Britain in terms of jobs, industry, health and more. We’re urging all political parties to adopt our 2030 vision.
Going green represents a huge opportunity for Britain in terms of jobs, industry, health and more.
