21 Apr 2026
***PRESS RELEASE TO SEND OUT BEFORE DAY OF ACTION – AT LEAST 1 WEEK BEFORE***
[Your town] Friends of the Earth press release
Immediate release: [add date]
[Your town] Friends of the Earth appeals to [Your MP] to pledge his/her/their support for a new law to protect people and the environment.
Local campaigners are asking [Your MP] to back the 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.
The group will gather outside [Your MP]’s office on [Friday 5 June] to hand in a petition and/or open letter and invite the MP to pledge his/her/their support at a photo opportunity.
Environmental justice campaigners from [Your town] Friends of the Earth are calling on [your MP] MP to back their campaign for a new law to hold UK companies to account for harm to people and the environment.
The group will be taking their demands to his/her/their constituency office next [Friday 5 June], where they will hand in a petition and/or open letter signed by [add number] people/organisations, demonstrating 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.
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.
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.
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. This only reinforces that there is overwhelming public support for the government to act.
That’s why [Your town] Friends of the Earth is inviting [your MP] to meet with them when they convene outside his/her/their office next Friday, to pledge his/her/their support for their campaign by signing the Good Business Matters Pledge. The pledge has already been backed by more than 70 MPs and peers, and 50 high profile UK businesses also back the law including John Lewis, Sainsbury’s and Aviva.
The MP will be invited to show his/her/their support for the campaign by taking a photo with the group and holding a placard backing the new law.
The environmental campaigners are just one of a number of Friends of the Earth groups taking action right across the country next week to engage their local representatives and shift the dial on this crucial issue.
[Your name, role] at [your town] Friends of the Earth, said:
“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. 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.
“[Your MP] must add his/her/their voice to 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 he/she/they will accept our invitation to meet next Friday and pledge their support for this vital campaign.”
ENDS
For more information, or to request an interview or photographs, please contact: [add contact name, role, telephone number, email address].
Notes to editors:
[Add logistical details about the Day of Action here – things like timings, location, directions etc]
Spokespeople will be available for media interviews on request.
Photographs of the action outside [Your MP]’s office will be available to media after the event.
[Add information about the petition/open letter as applicable, such as signature numbers, organisations signed-on etc.]
About [Yourtown] Friends of the Earth: [add blurb]