Got questions about how VoteClimate works? Check out our frequently asked questions to find the answers.
So you like what we do here at VoteClimate but you’ve got a few questions?
Here, we explain how VoteClimate works, who we are, how you can get involved – and tackle the key questions we hear.
Great question! Head over to our join now page to become a member of VoteClimate and get climate-focused voting recommendations straight to your inbox.
We help our members vote tactically to achieve the biggest possible influence on future government climate policy. In some seats this means switching away from the party with the strongest climate policy to make the most of first-post-the-post.
Our recommendations are tailored to the circumstances at each election and in each seat:
For more details see Our mission.
What the mainstream parties are currently promising on climate is far, far short of what is required. The first step is to force them to at least pledge to do more – a lot more. They certainly won’t take action unless they’ve promised voters they will!
Even if one party promises a strong climate manifesto with no intention of implementing it, that incentivises the other parties to improve their manifestos, as they compete for the VoteClimate voters.
And remember: there are many at all levels within the mainstream parties who support strong action on climate. By joining VoteClimate we give them greater influence over their party’s climate policies.
Time is running out for the planet. So we’re asking you to think the unthinkable. The most powerful way to persuade your preferred party to improve their climate policies is to threaten to switch to a party that could beat them. Even if you’re a loyal party member, don’t let your vote be taken for granted.
If our members are willing to vote tactically for any party with ambitious climate policies, that gives us the maximum influence on party manifestos at each election.
If there’s no chance you’ll ever vote for the main parties, there’s no hope that they will offer climate policies that earn your vote.
The goal of political parties is to win seats in parliament. By joining VoteClimate, you tell the mainstream parties that you would consider voting for them, if their climate policies were ambitious. The main parties will improve their climate policies only if they believe that will win them more votes. Uniting with VoteClimate to switch tactically makes your vote the very strongest it can be for climate. The more people you can recruit to join VoteClimate, the more influence we’ll have on them.
In the seats where the Green party can win, we will recommend voting for them.
In many safe Conservative or Labour seats (for example) VoteClimate is likely to recommend that the Green Party is the strongest vote for climate in that constituency.
At local elections we will ask our members to vote Green in most wards to show how much support there is for strong environmental policies, which strengthens our negotiating position before national and other elections.
Once we know how many people are going to ‘VoteClimate’ in each constituency, we can work out which parties can possibly win in that constituency if we all vote as a block. Of the parties that can win with our votes, we can swing behind the one promising the greatest action on climate. We can achieve so much more working together than we can as individuals.
Every extra signed-up VoteClimate member gives us a little bit more influence over party manifestos at each election.
Please see ‘Why do I need to become a member of VoteClimate?’ above – it might change your mind.
Two weeks before each election we will obtain the predicted results in each seat. Any party, which could win the seat if all VoteClimate members in that constituency voted for them, will be considered.
Where a party with ambitious climate policies appears unlikely to win, VoteClimate will recommend the party with the strongest climate policy, typically the Green Party: to give the strongest signal of our members’ desire for action.
The more people who join VoteClimate, wherever they are in the country, the more seriously the parties and the media have to take us – and the easier it will be to get funding to enhance that influence.
Good news: this idea works equally well to pressurise and incentivise parties standing in UK selections outside England. We will evaluate their climate policies in the same way and recommend who to vote for on the same basis.
Maybe. But VoteClimate is about the art of the possible. By voting as a block we have the power to turn the first-past-the-post system on its head and use it to bring desperately needed change.
Our mission is to ensure that whichever party wins an election, they have made significant commitments to tackle climate change. So our recommendation of who to vote for has to be based on UK/devolved manifestos.
By joining VoteClimate, we maximise the influence of those within the mainstream parties who are serious about climate.
To lobby your prospective next MP, please join VoteClimate and upload a Commitment. A Commitment is a message which we can take to your local politicians to underline your commitment to vote only for candidates themselves committing to real action on the climate and nature emergency.
VoteClimate supports all policies that significantly reduce climate emissions. There is no shortage of policy suggestions from the UK government’s Climate Change Committee which political parties should promise in their manifestos.
The main parties ignore us at their peril, as they need every vote they can get in marginal seats. Find out how VoteClimate works in different types of seats.
Together, let’s try and recruit as many members as possible, to ensure that no political party can afford to ignore us. There’s loads you can do to help with this!
Although our mission is to change national policies to tackle climate change, you’ll receive voting recommendations in local elections too.
In local elections, in most wards, we will urge members to vote for the Green Party, to demonstrate to the mainstream parties the size of our membership and our motivation to vote. But we may recommend other parties with ambitious climate policies in targeted, marginal wards.
No. VoteClimate is independent of all political parties.
Where they are standing, VoteClimate considers a vote for the Climate Party a strong signal for action on climate.
No. Greenpeace does not make voting recommendations.
At VoteClimate, we believe we have the most influence on manifestos when people follow our voting recommendations. We still love Project Climate Vote and urge you to support it!
We promise never to share your personal data. We will ask for the minimum possible data. Under GDPR we have to explain what we’ll do with your data, and it’s an offence to do anything with your data that you haven’t agreed to.
When we take our membership numbers to the political parties before an election, we will release our members’ postal district (eg AB1) and what parliamentary constituency they’re in. We keep your name and postcode private.
The VoteClimate tech is managed by an IT professional with 25 years experience as a data protection officer (DPO) charged with keeping personal data secure.
If you have any questions not answered here, please get in touch. And please become a member if you haven’t already.
