Sir Richard Branson

5 May 2010

Money talks, Sir Richard Branson

Britain's best known entrepreneur is injecting a cool £1.6 billion into reducing our use of fossil fuels. That's a whole lot of money!

Tripping and Shipping

Moving people and goods around by air is one of the major sources of CO₂ in the atmosphere.

Sir Richard knows that this must be reduced rapidly. The money is to go into renewable fuels and to start design of CO₂ neutral aircrafts.

It's up to companies in transportation to develop the technology.

Why fly at all?

Sir Richard doesn't think there is a real alternative to people flying internationally. But, he does think that people should stop flying within their country.

Domestic air travel is twice as damaging as international air travel. People should think twice before flying domestically.

Trains are becoming more energy efficient, faster and a real threat to air travel.

Lobbying the airports

Airports can reduce wasting fuel. Sir Richard is asking airports to do this in several ways.

If they tow planes into position the engines are used less. Pilots can save fuel by not thrusting engines during landing.

Leading by example

If we take a responsible attitude to leadership in this industry, we hope to be able to force change.

Sir Branson hopes that his direct action will send an important message to businesses around the world.

He says that the Government also has to show leadership by embracing every form of renewable energy.

Read the full interview>

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