"It doesn’t need to be that way” – green entrepreneurs call for capitalism to be used as force for good

Vince, who is the founder of green energy company Ecotricity, and Singh-Watson, who established the organic veg box company Riverford, have called for different measures of success, and said the short-term pursuit of profit damages both people and the environment. 

It comes in a week of yet another reminder of how human activity is harming the environment with news that over 40 per cent of insect species are declining and a third are endangered, primarily due to agricultural intensification.

On a global policy level, there is little evidence that world leaders are truly committed to the scale of change needed. David Attenborough told the recent World Economic Forum in Davos that humans are wrecking the planet, but the leaders he addressed arrived on 1,500 private jets and some are already planning how to capitalise on the impacts of climate change.

Dale Vince, Ecotricity founder, said: “Capitalism has become a force of evil in the world and I don’t think it originated in that way and it doesn’t need to be that way.

“The pursuit of profit has taken priority over people, over the environment, over everything.

“I’m not motivated by money. I want to change the world. Everything that motivates me is about creating change because I can see so much scope for that – so much change that we need to bring so that we all live more sustainably.”

Guy Singh-Watson, Riverford founder and organic farmer, said: “The quest for short-term profits is what’s wrong.

“For some reason we don’t measure success in the things that really matter so we measure it with money.

“It should be measured in what you can do – what you can do for other people, what you can do for the environment. That’s the shift we need.”

Switch to Ecotricity today and receive a voucher worth up to £70 to spend on veg at Riverford Organic Farmers.