Sir Richard Branson talks to Saab about the economic benefits of going green
Saab UK has released a teaser taste of its interview with Sir Richard Branson on biofuels, his personal actions to reduce his carbon footprint and his latest idea: creating the first carbon-neutral resort in the Caribbean, on his home of Necker Island. The interview will be published in full on Thursday at the Saab Biopower UK website.
In the interview, Branson says that, "I believe we need to make a virtue out of investing in clean technology and renewable energy and not be ashamed to want to make profits out of it. For too long, environmentally-friendly technology and issues about the environment have been seen as a corporate social responsibility issue and not an opportunity to create new wealth in the future. Governments alone cannot solve the problems we face unless the capitalist world invests in a sustainable future."
If you can't wait two days to hear what else Mr. Virgin has to say, here's a bunch-a-Branson from the AutoblogGreen archives:
- Richard Branson's quest to fund the extraction of greenhouse gases
- Richard Branson promotes alternative fuel movement by driving a Saab 9-5 BioPower
- Soon at a pump near you: Virgin Fuels
- Branson looks towards Virgin territory: biofuel
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
JoAnne Gearhart 11:37AM (2/12/2008)
Dear Sir Richard;
I am emailing you in hopes that maybe I can get you to listen to an idea that I have that could change the way people could feel safer in this world. I have tried talking via email to anyone that would listen but they all seem to think my idea isnt a good one. I think that if you could always find a loved one whether they go missing by a kidnapping or a medical condition wouldnt you want to try. My idea could also bring an end to all further unsolved cases to a halt. I mean how do you feel when you see an amber alert or when you hear that someone was kidnapped and no further details are available and days or weeks go by and still nothing.When I hear these I get such a pit in my stomach that I cant breathe. Well I know that as a mother of 2 young boys I know that I would turn over every stone or I would swim every bit of water to try and find them. Please get back to me so I can talk to you further on this idea. Thank you for your time, JoAnne.
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julian lowe 3:40AM (6/25/2008)
A green economy does not start with green products.
It starts with green mind.re create the human ego and alighn it along side a capital thought.
Come on brand advertisers have been preconditioning people for ages.
re brand green
You want to know more e-mail me.
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Dr. Miriam Hacker 12:47AM (4/22/2009)
It is very noble from Sir Richard Branson to invest $ 3 billion in renewable energy technologies ,it proves that he sees his former mistakes and is trying to repair the damage to our atmosphere. At least he is conscious about karma and is acting upon, but where are the others please ? Our present problem is not coming only from his Jets.
Is a good question ,what are the others doing to remove the atmospheric CO2 ? My respect Sir Richard ,you have courage & brains to.
Now please answer me , where is the point of removing CO2 from our atmosphere ?
It is noble to try to do it but why ? What do you aspect from it ? Haven´t we forgot something ? How about first taking care of not putting new CO2 in ??, Why not taking care of the rest of our planets lungs ,which is still existing which with time could repair the damage? Or doing both ,removing & preventing new CO2 ?
The present conservation money for saving the world´s rainforest's is waisted in achieving the opposite as we would aspect , and this approach is going to send more CO2 in the atmosphere as before. But does anyone care ?
For example : I decided 6 years ago to do something about it and moved from Australia to Amazonian jungle of Peru . What I encountered was shocking , forget all the propaganda what you hear about “ Saving the Amazon” it sound good on TV but in reality there are only few of us here who care and are doing something about it.
There suppose to be a bilateral (Country to Country ) development aid - funds for saving the ecology of Amazon , but it never get here , because in a corrupt country like Peru the politicians keep it for themselves. The population is extremely pore , so they have to deforest the jungle for they survival , in past, they used to cut 2-4 trees pro hectare and sell it to lumber industry , but the rest of the forest was still intact.
Now we got a new international law , no more lumber because the CO2, Hallelujah problem solved…. Sure , sure, 70.000 -90.000 people involved (only in Peru ) in lumber industry are now unemployed with a hungry family destined to starve because our first world countries CO2 emission. It does not sounds like justice to me , and what are we going to do about they survival please ?
The problem with CO2 just begins… I will tell you what will happen ! 70.000 -90.000 people would not have any choice but to burn completely the rain forest for Coca plantation (to produce Cocaine for first world countries) or beef production .
Not only few trees , but the whole forest would be destroyed , again , what´s a point to invest $ 3 billion to remove the existing CO2 if we are going to relies more CO2 to atmosphere as ever before trough forest burning ?
No, we can not blame those pore indigenous for doing it , they have to feed they families ,and it was not them who polluted the atmosphere with CO2 , it was us in first world countries, and it is again us who have to take care of it.
Unluckily I do not see any Eco- protectors here in Peruvian Amazon nor a cent from offered reward for preventing new CO2 emission to our atmosphere. Nevertheless I dint waste my time in expectation but doing as much a “ One woman army” can do, with no money at all, no millions whatever but love & respect for humanity . If I can do , anyone can do , only we have to want it.
What a shame that Sir Richard would´t read this prophecy !!! Before getting out in Space to search for other emigration planets , he should or we all should try to keep this perfectly suitable one alive , for us & future generation to come .
I guess ,we still can help our planet if we see the whole picture , and attend to immediate treat of Amazonian forest burnings , ( How sad ,we could not prevent our Australian Bush fires ) , enforce stricter CO2 emission laws in first world countries, and of cause removing the CO2 from our atmosphere.
Short : Preventing & Removing = Healthy Planet ,Happy people = Good KARMA
Dr. Miriam Hacker
Myspace.com/goddessofamazon
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dela 8:42AM (9/03/2007)
hi sir ferst i am so sorry for what i am looking fore.Truly i am heer to ask for help.so mini time s i thri to contact wed u.please me and mi 3 and 5 years boys we need your help. madam Dela from UAE.
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JR Reimann 12:45AM (10/18/2007)
Sir Branson I am starting here to contact you if you are interested in contacting me please have your people blog this and i will send email for contact.:
I have developed an ideal that will eliminate the need for all fossil fuels an nuculer fusion My Idea is in the first stages of development but is so easy that it could be put to use in the near future. I have always thought that the easiest processes and out of the box thinking are the way of the future please contact
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john henningsen 9:42PM (11/06/2007)
Richard,
I've been reading up and came across something promising...The idea is to precipitate carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into a stable solid form that won't dissolve in water and is relatively inert.
A stable form of carbon that meets those criteria is diamond. I propose that we remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and make it into diamond.
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