The Green Party In the 1970s and early 1980s, Porritt was a prominent member of the
Ecology Party (the predecessor to the
Green Party of England and Wales). Porritt served as chair of The Ecology Party from 1979 to 1980, and from 1982 to 1984. He presided over changes that made the party much more prominent in elections, himself standing as a parliamentary candidate in general elections in 1979 and 1983. In 1979, he achieved 2.8% of the vote in
St Marylebone, and in 1983, he achieved 2.1% in
Kensington, receiving attention from national media. Under his stewardship, membership grew from a few hundred to around 3,000. In 1984, Porritt published his first book,
Seeing Green: Politics of Ecology Explained. It was written while he was policy director of the Ecology Party. As of 1999, it was still described as "the best general guide to the politics of ecology by an 'insider. Reviewed nearly 30 years after its publication, it stands up as "prophetic in many respects", The Greens achieved 15% of the European Parliamentary vote in 1989, but were able to win only 1.2% of the vote in the 1992 general election, in which environmental issues were largely ignored. During this time, Porritt became a strong public advocate of change in the now Green Party of England and Wales. Along with
Sara Parkin, he advocated for a more professional organisation with identifiable leaders, a change that was eventually approved. In 1992, Porritt backed the election of
Cynog Dafis, who was elected to Parliament as the joint
Plaid Cymru-Green MP for
Ceredigion. However, in 1994, the regional council of the Green Party suspended Porritt for supporting Dafis, and demanded that Dafis stop identifying himself as Green. Prior to the
2015 general election, he was one of several public figures who endorsed the parliamentary candidacy of the
Green Party's
Caroline Lucas.
Friends of the Earth In 1984, Porritt gave up teaching to become Director of
Friends of the Earth in Britain, a post he held until 1990. Although criticized initially as inexperienced, in the long term he has been seen as an important factor in the group's success in the late 1980s. and encouraged Friends of the Earth to promote practical solutions in its local environmental campaigns, as well as thinking more globally and internationally. Looking back in 2012, Porritt stated that becoming director of Friends of the Earth "was probably the best decision of my life". However, his affection for the organization has not stopped him from harshly criticizing it, as he did in 2015, when the group's top ten priority issues list did not include
nuclear power.
Beyond Agenda 21 Porritt attended
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in
Rio de Janeiro in 1992, eventually writing an introduction for
The way forward : beyond Agenda 21 (1997). From 1993 to 1996, he chaired
Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future, then known as United Nations Environment and Development UK (UNED UK). The organization encourages international stakeholders to engage in decision-making for sustainable development.
Forum for the Future With
Sara Parkin and
Paul Ekins, Porritt founded
Forum for the Future in 1996, a
sustainable development charity. The nonprofit offers advice on sustainability planning to multinational companies, including
Kellogg's and
Unilever.
Sustainable Development Commission In 2000, Porritt was appointed the inaugural chair of the incoming Labour government's
Sustainable Development Commission (SDC), set up by prime minister
Tony Blair. He was reappointed twice for three-year terms, the last of which began on 26 July 2006. From 2000 to 2009, Porritt chaired the SDC. He was, however, critical of the
Labour government for its environmental record and its pro-nuclear stance, and has campaigned
against nuclear power. While at SDC, Porritt encouraged the work of economist
Tim Jackson, whose SDC report
Prosperity Without Growth was later published as a book under the same title. Since retiring from the SDC in September 2009, Porritt has publicly supported the report's analysis of economic growth as it relates to environmental and human well-being, and the potential for a sustainable economy. The Sustainable Development Commission closed on 31 March 2011. Porritt has stated that population growth is a serious threat to the global environment and that family planning, including both birth control and abortion, is a part of the answer to global warming. He recommends that people should have no more than two children. Porritt has asserted that "promotion of reproductive health is one of the most progressive forms of intervention" that could be used to reduce carbon emissions. Similar views are supported by other researchers and international organizations. Porritt's remarks on the subject in 2009 caused outrage among anti-abortionists and some religious leaders. which has reduced birth rates but is described as coercive, cruel and causing "immeasurable suffering". Although the Green Party, Population Matters and other organizations assert that they only support voluntary use of family planning, calls for population control raise fears that it will be coercively used in ways that infringe human rights. Porritt remained definite about his position. Environmental commentator
George Monbiot, who also uses carbon emissions for ecological footprinting, has criticized Porritt's emphasis on family planning. He asserts that radical family planning will have little impact unless people limit their consumption. "People might populate less as they become richer, but they do not consume less; rather they consume more. That is, as the habits of the super-rich show, there are no limits to human extravagance." Increasing availability to contraceptive usage in poor countries, although it may have decrease population growth in those countries, may therefore do little to limit carbon impact. which "maps, measures, models, and describes the 100 most substantive solutions to global warming". Among the top ten solutions, according to Project Drawdown, are the education of women and the availability of family planning services.
Other activities Porritt served as chairman of Sustainability South-West, the South-West Round Table for Sustainable Development in England, from 1999 to 2001, and later as president. Porritt served as a trustee of the
World Wildlife Fund (UK) from 1991 to 2005. Porritt is on the advisory board of
BBC Wildlife magazine Porritt is an endorser of the
Forests Now Declaration, presented at the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting, held in Bali in December 2007. The Declaration calls for new market based carbon policies and reforms to prioritize the protection of tropical forests. Porritt has strongly criticized proposals by the UK government to sell off Britain's remaining 635,000 acres of public woodlands, and helped to form the organization Our Forests in 2012 to protect and expand public and private woodlands throughout England. Porritt acts as advisor to many bodies on environmental matters, as well as to individuals including
Prince Charles. His best-selling book
Capitalism: As if the World Matters was originally published in 2005, and revised and republished by
Earthscan in September 2007. In it, he argues that capitalism must be controlled and redirected to create a sustainable world. In line with this view, Porritt has worked to encourage businesses to move towards sustainability. In 2005, he became a Non-Executive Director of
Wessex Water, Porritt also serves on the Sustainable Retail Advisory Board for
Marks & Spencer, advising the company on its long-term sustainability strategy. Porritt is a convenor of the
cross-party political movement
More United. Porritt's book
The World We Made (2013) is a futurist account of how the world will have changed by 2050, noted for both its comprehensiveness and optimism. In August 2025, Porritt was arrested in
Parliament Square,
Westminster after displaying support for
Palestine Action, which had recently been proscribed by the British government as a
terrorist organisation; he was arrested again, in Bristol in November, under similar circumstances. ==Personal life==