Rupert Read

Read was one of 13 Green Party councillors in Norwich, where he was first elected in 2004 to represent Wensum ward[19] and re-elected in 2007 with 49% of the vote.[20] He sat on the Joint Highways Committee of the city and county councils,[21] and was spokesperson on Transport for the Green Party city councillors.[22] Read stepped down from local politics in 2011 and Wensum was retained by the Green Party.[23]

Having held a number of officer posts for the Eastern Region Green Party, at the beginning of 2007 Read was selected as Eastern Region Green Party's lead candidate for the European Parliament elections in 2009 and again in 2014.[24] The East of England is one of the Green Party's stronger regions in terms of support, and under the proportional representation system on which the European elections operate, the party was optimistic that he would represent them in the European Parliament. However, he was beaten to the last of the seven seats in the constituency by the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) in 2009, and similarly in 2014. For the 2019 European Elections, Read stood as the second ranked candidate on the Eastern Region list for the Green Party.[25] He stood in the 2009 Norwich North by-election, as the Green Party candidate, and returned the biggest by-election vote share in Green history with 9.7% of the vote.

Read stood as MP candidate for Cambridge in the 2015 general election.[26] He came fourth, having received 8% of the vote.[27]

Read has also given many talks to Green Party organisations including the Ealing Green Party in March 2019.[28]

In April 2019, Read became the second candidate on the Green Party list for the Eastern Region[29] in the 2019 EU Elections and spent time in May campaigning with Caroline Lucas across the region.[30][31] After the election, he became special adviser to Catherine Rowett during her time as an MEP: the first candidate on the Green Party list for the Eastern Region, who was elected an MEP.

Read was one of 224 academics to sign an open letter of support for the School strike for climate – a movement where children walked out of schools to protest at and demand action on climate change.[32] In February 2019, Read joined school strikers at the Forum Library in Norwich[33] and subsequently gained media coverage for his own personal open letter to schools in Norwich urging them to be supportive of action from students.[34]

In October 2018 Read declared himself a supporter of Extinction Rebellion,[11] an environmental direct action group, becoming a signatory of their first[35] and second[36] open letters to The Guardian and taking part in at least one of their November actions in London.[37] A month later, Read took part in a sit-in to disrupt the consultation stage of a link between two major motorways across ecologically significant Wensum Valley in Norfolk.[38]

In 2019, Read spoke to the Bath wing of Extinction Rebellion in a talk entitled "Your money or your life" which focused on biodiversity, pollution, and climate change before exploring practical options around responding to the climate and ecological 'emergencies'.[39]

Read played a major role in the April 2019 Extinction Rebellion in London. In addition to joining and speaking to protesters across London, Read appeared on a number of news platforms as spokesman for Extinction Rebellion, putting forward their three demands not only to the New Scientist,[14] but also to John Nicolson on talkRadio[40] and Nick Ferrari on LBC;[41] as well as debating Extinction Rebellion's approach and fracking's impact on climate change during Jacob Rees-Mogg’s LBC show;[42] and explaining the Rebellion's approach to Doug Henwood’s KPFA radio show in the USA.[43]

On television, Read appeared on Channel 5's 5 News[44] in a performance described by Naomi Klein as "absolutely amazing",[45] and BBC Politics Live where he notably successfully put pressure on Labour MP Jenny Chapman and Conservative minister Nadhim Zahawi to agree, live on TV, to meet Extinction Rebellion, and additionally demanded that politicians stop spreading the myth – and misleading statistics – that the UK is a leader on climate change action.[46] More recently during the October 2019 Extinction Rebellion, Read appeared on BBC question time along with Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps MP, Lisa Nandy MP, businessman Theo Paphitis and journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer.[47]

Through the work of their protests, Extinction Rebellion were invited to talk to the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.[48] Additionally, Read was personally involved in meeting Environment Secretary Michael Gove at DEFRA where he put forward Extinction Rebellion's demands and concerns directly to the government.[12][49]

A day later the UK Parliament became the first in the world to declare a "climate change emergency";[13] part of the first one of Extinction Rebellion's three demands.[14]

In 2020, Read orchestrated the leak of the JP Morgan report saying Earth is on unsustainable trajectory, in which the major fossil fuel financier warned its clients of the economic risks of man-made global warming.[50]

In July 2020, Read published a collection of essays entitled Extinction Rebellion: Insights from the Inside about his experiences of being involved in Extinction Rebellion from its inception in 2018 up until the Covid pandemic. This piece was edited by, and contains a postscript from, Samuel Alexander.

Read is no longer a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion, as he refuses to speak to any Murdoch-owned outlets "until climate change is front page news,"[51] and he felt that this stance would weaken his ability to be an efficient spokesperson for the activist organisation going forward.

Read is now the Co-Director of the Climate Majority Project (previously known as the Moderate Flank) which aims to bring "funding and expertise to initiatives working to bring serious climate action into the mainstream."[52] The Climate Majority Project endorses a moderate form of climate activism to encourage mass support from a variety of places, arguing that whilst Extinction Rebellion has been extremely successful in elevating climate change as a political and social issue, some of its tactics risk isolating people. On an issue as crucial as climate change, Read believes that all people must have an outlet to express their concerns and pressurise for political change, which requires the formation of a less radical wing of the climate movement.[53] Another central part of the moderate flank is to avoid stances on identity politics in an attempt to maximise participation from all sides of the political spectrum.[54] The Climate Majority Project is supported by veteran environmental campaigner Swampy, Conservative Lord John Randall, former Child's Laureate Michael Rosen, BBC Presenter Chris Packham, and former Chairman of the CCC Lord Deben. The Climate Majority Project is currently partnered with Community Climate Action, Lawyers for Net-Zero, MP Watch, Wild Card, and People Get Real. The Climate Majority Project was granted an initial core funding of £100,000 to grow this moderate flank of climate activism.

Since the Climate Majority Project's launch in June 2023, Read has appeared on ITV News,[55] Andrew Marr's show on LBC,[56] and Good Morning Britain (alongside Swampy)[57] to make the case for the Climate Majority Project. In Read's own words, "The Climate Majority Project is for anyone and everyone who is serious about taking action on this existential threat that now faces us, but doesn't want to glue themselves to anything."[55]

Read was a regular contributor to the One World Column in the EDP, focusing on international development, poverty, globalisation, peacemaking, human rights, international relations and the environment.[58] He has also had various articles appear in The Independent, The Guardian, and The Conversation.

Read is co-founder of the Leave our Kids Alone campaign, which seeks a ban on all advertising targeting children under 11.[59]

Read has developed, on the basis of his research in political and environmental philosophy, a radical proposal for institutional reform, to provide a place in the UK's democratic system for a voice for future people.[60] The proposal was launched at Parliament on 10 January 2012.