Last I checked, this guy owned a fossil fueled airline, a fossil fueled cruise ship line, hotels (which require people to take fossil fueled trips), and a company attempting to make commercial space travel happen, among others. So, of course
Richard Branson talks new climate change coalition and his plans to return to space
Sir Richard Branson’s next mission: combating climate change.
The billionaire British entrepreneur announced his latest initiative, Planetary Guardians, at a news conference Monday while in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
The coalition includes 14 world leaders who will take what they’re calling a “whole planet” approach to “safeguard” Earth. The diverse group includes actor Robert Redford, activist Jane Goodall and Juan Manuel Santos, the former president of Colombia.
“If you can’t measure something properly, you can’t fix it,” Branson told NBC News in a wide-ranging interview at his new flagship Virgin Hotel on Tuesday. “The idea is that we will measure the nine principal planetary boundaries every year … how many are the rainforests? Exactly where are we with climate change? Where are we with species disappearing in the world … and we can try to make sure we can push the world into trying to address them.”
Branson also had a message for the climate change deniers.
“It’s a fact of life,” he said. “The amount of carbon that’s going into Earth’s atmosphere is heating up the world and it’s going to do a lot of damage to the world if we don’t get it under control.”
Yet, he started all those fossil fuels using companies, and has stakes in so many that use vast amounts of petroleum and energy. He’s not selling them all off, but, he is investing in “green” energy companies, trying to make even more money of the scam. It’s super easy for the uber-rich to push this, because they’ll just go on with their own lives as normal while getting government to restrict the lives of the peasants.
Branson founded Virgin Group in the 1970s. It now consists of more than 400 companies, including his airline, record label and hotels all over the world, which now includes his first-ever location in Manhattan. (snip)
The mogul has homes all over the world and even owns his own island, but he says there’s something about the city that never sleeps. “When I come to New York, it’s like coming home.”
While running many businesses he’s aware of his own carbon footprint.
“We’ve managed to get the price of going into space, from a carbon point of view right down to a minimum. … You know, if you’ve run an airline, you’ve got to try to get the youngest, most fuel-efficient planes,” Branson said. “If you’re running a space line, you’ve got to reduce the cost of taking people into space dramatically from a carbon point of view. So all of us in positions where we can make a big difference have got to make a big difference.”
And NBC News’ Chloe Melas failed to ask him directly if he’s giving up his own massive use of fossil fuels. Go figure.
