Fair and Square was officially launched recently during the ‘Ethical Shopping at the Crossroad’ conference in London. The conference, held on 5 December, was organised jointly by Co-operatives UK, the Co-operative College, the Co-operative Bank, and Ethical Consumer.

With awareness of climate change and fair trade at a high and as the UK market breaks through the £30 billion barrier, the conference considered the whether ethical consumerism on the brink of entering the mainstream.

If so, what are the implications for politicians, consumers, NGOs and businesses? How can the carbon agenda be reconciled with social justice? Can we square low-price shopping with ethical considerations? Will our demand for local sourcing have a negative impact on developing countries? Will ethical consumer issues start to feed into voting preferences?

David Anderson, CEO of Co-operative Financial Services, opened the day by launching CFS’s Ethical Consumerism Report for 2007 detailing how household expenditure on ethical goods and services has almost doubled in the past five years. The Report, which acts as a barometer of ethical spending and boycotts in the UK, shows that last year, on average, every household in the UK spent £664 in line with their ethical values compared with just £366 in 2002, an increase of 81 per cent.

However, whilst some parts of the ethical market are snowballing others still see slow growth. Only £6 per household is spent on renewable energy, including micro-generation and sales in charity shops are down 13 per cent, squeezed by the budget retailers selling cheaper clothes and internet auction sites offering an alternative outlet for second hand goods.

Fair Trade Foundation chief, Harriet Lamb, told the conference that four out of every 10 bananas sold in the UK are now fairly traded. But she warned that labelling is not a panacea for solving all the problems of the developing world and that producers must have direct access to world markets, as owners, if they are to tip the balance of power in trade.

Patrick Holden of the Soil Association tackled the awkward question of whether environmental sustainability is actually possible and warned that the growth of organic farming, which could cut carbon emissions by half, was slowing down as conversion to biofuel production gathered pace.

He suggested that air freighted produce would eventually price itself out of the market as oil prices continue to rise but whilst the market may help in some ways it would also require government intervention with things such as electrification of the food distribution system if a sustainable food system was to be put in place.

Professor Tim Lang offered the most controversial talking point of the day suggesting that our ethical response to the moral dilemmas of the ecological crisis we are facing must be reshaped. Rather than all responsibility for making good choices being loaded on the shoulders of the individual we need to rethink the idea of choice with governments and retailers making decisions for us.

“Choice as a core ideology will come under stain. The myth of consumer sovereignty is beyond its sell-by-date. We need an economic and cultural transition from ‘value for money’ to ‘values for money’,” he said.

Over a plate of lunch participants were able to view Fair and Square’s video, take part in a survey of attitudes which will inform the project’s work, and meet the team from the College.

The project generated a great deal of interest and was mentioned by Gareth Thomas, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for International Development who are funding Fair and Square during his afternoon address.

Read the full Conference Report

The afternoon panel