Planet Over Profit Day of Action: Meeting with Shockat Adam

Yesterday was the national Day of Action on the Planet Over Profit campaign, when Friends of the Earth groups across the countries met their local MPs to call for a new Business, Human Rights and Environment Act. The new law would ensure that UK companies are held responsible for environmental harm and human rights abuses in their supply chains.  

We met Shockat Adam, the MP for Leicester South, at his constituency office to hand in our petition and postcards from members of the public calling for a new law. We were joined by representatives of 15 local organisations who have signed an open letter calling for a new law, including Leicester Quakers, Global Justice Leicester, Stoneygate Baptist Church, Unite the Union Community Branch, The Race Equality Centre and Pioneer Parishes.  

Shockat Adam has already signed the Good Business Matters pledge, which so far has the backing of more than 80 MPs and peers and 50 high profile UK businesses, including John Lewis, Sainsbury’s and Aviva. We asked him to act on his pledge and back the campaign for a new law to hold UK companies to account for harm to people and the environment.  

The petition, postcards and open letter demonstrate the strength of local support for a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act (BHREA). Under the new legislation, UK companies would be held legally responsible for preventing harm to people and the planet in their supply chains, no matter where they operate – whether here in the UK or overseas.   

Through the materials they source to make their products, too many UK companies are fuelling environmental damage and endangering communities around the globe. In parts of South East Asia and South America, forests are being cleared, rivers polluted and habitats destroyed as highly sought-after commodities like palm oil, soy and timber are cultivated with little regard for their environmental and social impact. 

Products linked to these abuses then end up on the UK market – whether it’s the food we buy at the supermarket, the cosmetics on our bathroom shelf or the way we furnish our homes.   

Meanwhile, Indigenous communities that depend on and protect these precious ecosystems are being forced from their lands, threatened with violence and denied access to the natural resources they rely on. The new law would provide communities on the front lines of harm a legal route to justice when their rights are violated.  

According to polling by YouGov for the Corporate Justice Coalition , a whopping 80% of people support the demand for a new law to tackle harm to people and the environment. There is overwhelming public support for the government to act. 

Shockat Adam was invited to show his support for the campaign by taking a photo with the group, holding a placard backing the new law.   

 

It’s unthinkable that so many of the products we buy could be linked to horrific environmental and human rights abuses, and that UK companies are complicit. Most people do not want to buy something that is causing harm in another country, but consumers cannot trace what damage has been done in a supply chain. It’s high time businesses were held accountable for their harmful practices here at home and overseas – it couldn’t be clearer that the public wants the government to act.  

We’re really pleased that Shockat Adam is supporting the growing calls for a new Business, Human Rights and Environment Act, which would protect people and planet from harm at the hands of UK companies and give affected communities a legal route to justice. We hope that the other MPs representing the people of Leicester and Leicestershire will support this vital campaign.

Open letter supporting new law to protect people and environment signed by 17 local organisations

Less than a week before we meet Leicester South MP Shockat Adam to talk about our work on the 'Planet Over Profit' campaign, two more local organisations have signed our open letter supporting a new law to protect people and the environment. We welcome this support from Parents for Future Leicestershire and Neve Shalom Synagogue. We've had four new signatories this month, with 17 signatures in total. Some of our partners from these organisations will be joining our meeting with Shockat, to explain why they think a new law is so important.

We are very pleased to see that Shockat Adam has already signed the Good Business Matters pledge in support of a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act. We will be talking to him about the next steps that he can take to demonstrate his support. We hope that the other MPs in Leicester and Leicestershire will follow his example! 

We have also been out and about talking to members of the public about the need for a new law and we have collected postcards from people expressing their support. If you haven't had chance to fill in a postcard, you can still sign our digital petition: Leicester for fair supply chains  But please be quick! We'll be closing this on Thursday.

Two more Leicester organisations support good business campaign

In the last few months, we have been continuing to work on the Planet Over Profit campaign, calling for a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act to hold companies to account for any harm caused in their supply chain. This would help to end the exploitation of natural resources and human rights. We have now collected hundreds of postcards to local MPs. If you haven't been able to talk to us on a stall and sign a postcard, you can still sign the digital petition. 

We have also been talking to local organisations and Leicester's Unite the Union Community Branch and Leicester Woodcraft Folk have both signed our open letter to MPs supporting a new law, which you can read in full in our previous blog post. 

We will be meeting Shockat Adam, the MP for Leicester South, in early June, to deliver the postcards, petition and open letter and talk to him about the need for a new law. If you belong to an organisation or small business that would like to sign the open letter and come along to the meeting with Shockat, get in touch with us at leicesterfoe@gmail.com.

Failures of Malaysia's timber certification scheme

National Friends of the Earth, alongside partners in Peninsular Malaysia, have published shocking new research that exposes systemic failures in Malaysia's key timber certification scheme, which is used to ensure timber is harvested sustainably. The scheme is known as the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS) and it is endorsed by the globally recognised Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).

These failures mean that timber linked to deforestation, the violation of Indigenous peoples' rights and the destruction of critically endangered tiger habitats is being certified as "sustainable". UK companies are importing timber from Malaysia under this certification scheme and selling it to unsuspecting UK customers. National Friends of the Earth's Malaysian partners have highlighted that the scheme is flawed, and national legislation in Malaysia protecting Orang Asli Indigenous People and wildlife is weak.

This important research makes clear the case for a robust Business, Human Rights & Environment Act to ensure UK companies prevent harm to communities and the environment in their global supply chains.

Three of the companies named in this research have branches in Leicester: Travis Perkins, Howdens and Latham Timber. We have now written to all three companies to express our concerns and ask if they will sign our open letter to Leicester MPs, calling for a new law. We will update this blog when/if we hear back from them!

People wanting to ensure they are only buying truly sustainable timber might be interested in Friends of the Earth's Good Wood Guide. 

Support growing in Leicester for Planet Over Profit campaign

Support for the Planet Over Profit campaign continues to grow across Leicester. This national campaign is calling for a new law, the Business, Human Rights & Environment Act, to hold companies accountable for harm caused in their supply chain and to protect habitats, workers' rights and the rights of indigenous people. At the moment, it is too easy for big companies to claim ignorance of what is happening in the places where they source their materials and their goods and this allows them to do enormous harm. We need to hold them to account. (Read more about this campaign using the 'corporate accountability' tag on this blog.)

Five more Leicester-based organisations have now signed our open letter to MPs, bringing the total to thirteen supporting organisations:

• Global Justice Leicester and Leicestershire
• Leicester Quaker Meeting
• Pioneer Parishes
• Christians Aware
• Stoneygate Baptist Church

We are continuing to contact organisations to ask if they would like to sign the open letter. If you know of a place of worship, local business or community group that might be interested in supporting this campaign, please let us know at leicesterfoe@gmail.com . 

We're also continuing to collect support from individuals! Today we've been at the University of Leicester Students Union, as part of their Green Week, talking to students about the campaign and collecting signed postcards to take to MPs. If you haven't managed to come to one of our stalls to talk to us in person, you can still sign the online petition to show your support for fair supply chains. 

Update on our Planet Over Profit campaign: more organisations support good business

We are delighted to be starting 2026 by announcing that four more Leicester-based organisations are supporting the national ‘Planet Over Profit’ campaign by signing our local open letter to Leicester MPs calling for a Business, Human Rights & Environment Act. This new law would hold companies to account for any harm caused in their supply chain and protect important habitats, workers’ rights and the rights of indigenous people. Companies should be responsible for ensuring that their profits don’t come at the expense of people and planet, but existing laws aren’t holding them to account.

The four latest signatories include a Muslim environmental group, a community centre, a small business and a church:

• Green Guardians
• Highfields Centre
• Currant Affairs
• Christchurch Clarendon Park (Baptist/Methodist LEP Church)

You can read the full text of our open letter and see who had already signed in the previous blog post.

We are also still collecting support from individuals, through postcards (which you can colour in!) and a digital petition to MPs. Please sign our petition if you live in Leicester and share with your family and friends! And if you own a business or are part of a community organisation that might want to support this campaign, please get in touch with us: leicesterfoe@gmail.com.

Thank you to local organisations supporting good business!

As part of the Planet Over Profit campaign, we are collecting support from local organisations for a Business, Human Rights & Environment Act in an open letter to our local MPs. We are grateful to the first four organisations who have signed: 

• The Race Equality Centre
• Leicester & District Trades Union Council
• Green & Pleasant
• Climate Action Leicester and Leicestershire

If you own a business or are part of an organisation that might want to support this campaign, please get in touch with us: leicesterfoe@gmail.com 

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Dear Shockat Adam, Liz Kendall and Shivani Raja,

We are writing to you as small business owners, trade unions and community groups in your constituencies of Leicester South, Leicester West and Leicester East. Together, we represent an important cross-section of the local community who wish to buy and supply ethical products and are concerned by the many harms caused by unregulated supply chains—from modern slavery and unfair working conditions, to deforestation and land grabs.

We are writing in support of a new Business, Human Rights & Environment Act, which would hold UK companies and the public sector legally responsible for preventing harm to people and planet in their supply chains, and contribute to a Just Transition to a greener and fairer economy. Such a law would also enable workers, local communities and Indigenous Peoples in the UK and around the world, who are harmed by UK companies or public sector supply chains, to seek justice in a UK court.

The demand for ethical and sustainable products and services in Leicester is now mainstream with many people turning away from companies complicit in environmental harm and human rights abuses. YouGov polling¹ shows that over 80% of UK adults want new UK laws requiring British companies to prevent human rights abuses and serious environmental damage in their operations and supply chains.

We urge you to add your name to the over 50 MP’s and Peers who have signed the Good Business Matters pledge² in support of this new law in parliament and engage with us and Friends of the Earth to ensure it is a fair and robust piece of legislation we can all be proud of. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.

1https://corporatejusticecoalition.org/news/press/press-release-four-in-five-uk-adults-support-new-laws-to-tackle-environmental-harm-and-human-rights-abuses-in-company-supply-chains/

2 https://www.goodbusinessmatters.org/

Planet Over Profit campaign stalls

Over the summer, we are getting involved in the big national campaign, Planet Over Profit. This is calling for a new law that would hold companies accountable for harm caused by their supply chains. From the food on our plates to the clothes we wear, global supply chains controlled by corporations are often plagued with harmful environmental impacts and human rights abuses. These can include land grabbing from local communities and Indigenous peoples, when forests are cleared for palm oil plantations or soy crops, for use in processed foods and animal feed. And forced labour and poor working conditions are rife in garment factories churning out fast fashion. Companies should be responsible for ensuring that their profits don’t come at the expense of people and planet. But existing laws aren’t holding them to account. Read more about the campaign and the need for a new law here. 

We are collecting public support in Leicester. We had two stalls at the Green Film Festival at the Phoenix last month and we spent this morning in Knighton Park, talking to passersby. We are asking people to sign a postcard to their MP supporting this new law. People can also colour in their postcard, or we have some that are already coloured in by children who have been helping us! We are also colouring in a large banner, which we will take with us when we go to visit Leicester's MPs in the autumn. Our next stall will be before the Bee Picnic in Humberstone Park on 30th August. If you can't come to a stall to sign a postcard, you can still show your support for this campaign by signing our local online petition. 

As well as collecting support from individuals, we are also collecting letters of support for a new law from local businesses and organisations. If you own a business or are part of an organisation that might want to support this campaign, please get in touch with us: leicesterfoe@gmail.com