Brits spend £32.3 billion on ethical shopping, says Co-operative Bank

Your hard work is paying off. Today the eighth Co-operative Bank Ethical Consumerism Report was published and it shows conscientious shopping has almost doubled in the past five years and the market is now worth £32.3 billion. That's a helluva lot of Divine chocolate bars and Ecover washing up liquid.

The report looked at ethical spending and boycotts in the UK over the last year and it turns out the average household now spends £664 on ethical products annually. With £190 spent on organic and Fairtrade food and drink, and £213 on home products such as energy efficient light-bulbs, food and household are the two main sectors. Ethical clothing sales have increased by 79 per cent and ethical investments were up 18 per cent.

Simon Williams, Co-op's director of corporate affairs, says: “The market share for ethical food and drink appears to have broken through the ‘green’ glass ceiling of 5 per cent, and factoring in the effect of consumer boycotts, this market share could be as high as 7 per cent."

Without wanting to be party poopers, and while we're happy about the news, we're still rattled that the UK spends £568 billion on not-so-ethical goodies. But considering it's now possible to get a Smart version of virtually everything, we're sure 'lighter green' glass ceiling will be smashed next year.

The Co-op report also says we need to do more than buying ethical products to cut our carbon footprint significantly. Yep, sadly buying cute recycled and solar-powered backpacks won't be enough on its own.

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