A quarter of a century ago, Dale Vince founded the UK’s first energy provider to produce electricity exclusively from renewable sources. Now the former hippie wants to shake up the diamond market.
The town of Stroud in western England doesn’t exactly look like a hotbed of radical environmental activism. But the placid appearance is deceptive: the global environmental movement Extinction Rebellion was founded here. Stroud’s football club, fourth division team Forest Green Rovers, is the first carbon neutral and vegan club in the world. Its owner, climate activist and accidental entrepreneur Dale Vince, has been producing real, certified diamonds here for three years. From air, wind, sun and rainwater. No joke.