Richard Branson Gives Billions

Richard Branson is a larger than life kind of man, with self promotion skills that are better than most. At a recent "Clinton Global Initiative" meeting in New York, Branson said he would commit $3 billion over the next ten years to solving the energy problems that the world has.

It's not a charitable donation as Branson is using the money to invest in new technology (that happens to be environmentally friendly). The reason it is news is because it's Richard Branson, but more importantly because someone with such a high profile is willing to commit such a large sum of money into an industry that is unproven. Hopefully these investments will pay off more than his Virgin Airlines!

Branson With the Stars
Indeed, Branson has plenty of good business reasons to pursue this strategy -- not the least of which is a federal mandate in the U.K. requiring all fueling stations to get 5 percent of their fuel from renewable sources by 2010. There are also heaps of incentives in the pipeline for biofuel stations and production in the U.S. and elsewhere. But the biggest driver, says Branson, is the soaring cost of oil: "I've seen the price of my [aviation] fuel going up by nearly a billion over the last three years. It's painful for us as a business, it's painful for our travelers, but thank God it's happened ... [H]igh oil prices are what's been needed to actually wake up the world to deal with this [climate] problem." Grist Muckracker

# Richard Branson, Philanthropy, Energy