Can Bronson's Billions save us from global Warming>?

Can Branson’s billions help save us from global doom?

ALISON CHIESA September 22 2006





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GREEN, it appears, is the new black in the world of wealthy philanthropy, as Sir Richard Branson proved yesterday when he donated more than £1bn to tackle global warming.
Sir Richard is the latest in a line of high-profile entrepreneurs to make ever-greater pledges to help right worldly wrongs.
It is perhaps inevitable that our philanthropists turn to the greater good, given the relative prosperity of the UK.
Sir Richard's announcement that he is to donate the next decade's profits from his Virgin travel businesses to tackle global warming is the latest – and most significant – acts of largess from one of the world's best-known businessmen.
At a time when giving by some of the most wealthy individuals on the planet has reached record levels, the further pledge by Sir Richard's is estimated to be worth £1.6bn over 10 years – about half his current personal fortune.
Sir Richard announced his intention in New York on a podium alongside Bill Clinton, the former US president, as part of the Clinton Global Initiative.
It was also in America that the world's most famous philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie, a Scot born into poverty in 1835, went on to make a fortune and become, at one stage, the world's richest man.
Sir Richard's pledge also comes soon after Sir Tom Hunter, currently the richest man in Scotland, announced he is to spend £55m on improving health and education in two African nations, as part of the Clinton-Hunter Development Initiative.
A month earlier, in June, US billionaire investor Warren Buffett announced that he was donating £19bn to charity.
Mr Buffett gave the money to the charitable foundation run by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, which works to reduce global poverty and improve health and access to education.
Mr Gates himself said in July that the charity, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was pledging £151m in a bid to speed-up the development of a vaccine for the HIV/Aids virus.
Sir Richard has previously given money to educational charities in Africa and, just last week announced he was to invest hundreds of millions of pounds into the production of environmentally-friendly fuel.
He believes that "with extreme wealth comes extreme responsibility" and, earlier this year, Sir Richard also spoke of other philanthropic aims – including a health clinic to reduce deaths from HIV/Aids in South Africa.
The entrepreneur with the charismatic smile has previously made significant investments in education.
Yesterday's announcement follows a visit from Al Gore, the former US vice-president, to his home in west London.
Mr Gore, now an ardent environmental campaigner, whose film An Inconvenient Truth is shocking audiences with its message about the effects of global warming, told Sir Richard that the businessman was in a position to "make a difference" over climate change.
Sir Richard's commitment to the environment marks another chapter in the remarkable story of Britain's foremost entrepreneurs.
The married father-of-two has admitted that, in the early days of Virgin, he would often hide when debt collectors demanded bills be paid.
Born in 1950, he went into business at 16, publishing a magazine called Student, and four years later he was the subject of a television documentary. Having originally founded Virgin as a mail order record company he later opened his first store in Oxford Street, London. The Virgin Records music label was formed in 1972.
Since then the Virgin Group has expanded into air and rail travel, mobile phones, finance, radio, retail, drinks, hotels and gyms with around 200 companies in 30 countries employing more than 25,000 people. Among his latest ventures is the development of Virgin Galactic – a space tourism business It was the spiralling cost of fuel at Virgin Rail and Virgin Atlantic that sparked Sir Richard's interest in making his business more energy-efficient, but it is his latest announcement that could become his greatest lasting personal achievement if, as Al Gore predicts, others follow his lead.
GREEN, it appears, is the new black in the world of wealthy philanthropy, as Sir Richard Branson proved yesterday when he donated more than £1bn to tackle global warming.
Sir Richard is the latest in a line of high-profile entrepreneurs to make ever-greater pledges to help right worldly wrongs.
It is perhaps inevitable that our philanthropists turn to the greater good, given the relative prosperity of the UK.
Sir Richard's announcement that he is to donate the next decade's profits from his Virgin travel businesses to tackle global warming is the latest – and most significant – acts of largess from one of the world's best-known businessmen.
At a time when giving by some of the most wealthy individuals on the planet has reached record levels, the further pledge by Sir Richard's is estimated to be worth £1.6bn over 10 years – about half his current personal fortune.
Sir Richard announced his intention in New York on a podium alongside Bill Clinton, the former US president, as part of the Clinton Global Initiative.
It was also in America that the world's most famous philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie, a Scot born into poverty in 1835, went on to make a fortune and become, at one stage, the world's richest man.
Sir Richard's pledge also comes soon after Sir Tom Hunter, currently the richest man in Scotland, announced he is to spend £55m on improving health and education in two African nations, as part of the Clinton-Hunter Development Initiative.
A month earlier, in June, US billionaire investor Warren Buffett announced that he was donating £19bn to charity.
Mr Buffett gave the money to the charitable foundation run by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, which works to reduce global poverty and improve health and access to education.
Mr Gates himself said in July that the charity, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was pledging £151m in a bid to speed-up the development of a vaccine for the HIV/Aids virus.
Sir Richard has previously given money to educational charities in Africa and, just last week announced he was to invest hundreds of millions of pounds into the production of environmentally-friendly fuel.
He believes that "with extreme wealth comes extreme responsibility" and, earlier this year, Sir Richard also spoke of other philanthropic aims – including a health clinic to reduce deaths from HIV/Aids in South Africa.
The entrepreneur with the charismatic smile has previously made significant investments in education.
Yesterday's announcement follows a visit from Al Gore, the former US vice-president, to his home in west London.
Mr Gore, now an ardent environmental campaigner, whose film An Inconvenient Truth is shocking audiences with its message about the effects of global warming, told Sir Richard that the businessman was in a position to "make a difference" over climate change.
Sir Richard's commitment to the environment marks another chapter in the remarkable story of Britain's foremost entrepreneurs.
The married father-of-two has admitted that, in the early days of Virgin, he would often hide when debt collectors demanded bills be paid.
Born in 1950, he went into business at 16, publishing a magazine called Student, and four years later he was the subject of a television documentary. Having originally founded Virgin as a mail order record company he later opened his first store in Oxford Street, London. The Virgin Records music label was formed in 1972.
Since then the Virgin Group has expanded into air and rail travel, mobile phones, finance, radio, retail, drinks, hotels and gyms with around 200 companies in 30 countries employing more than 25,000 people. Among his latest ventures is the development of Virgin Galactic – a space tourism business It was the spiralling cost of fuel at Virgin Rail and Virgin Atlantic that sparked Sir Richard's interest in making his business more energy-efficient, but it is his latest announcement that could become his greatest lasting personal achievement if, as Al Gore predicts, others follow his lead.