Branson & Bush - the new eco warriers?

Ecotricity is the largest independent provider of electricity in the UK - based in Stroud with the wind turbine at Nympsfield. Dale Vince, their chief executive, had an advert this week calling on Branson to have a carbon-free breakfast with him to look at ways to tackle climate change - see Citizen article here.

Good on him - while I respect Richard Branson for raising the profile of climate change he is still missing the point badly...I hope if he does go to breakfast, Mr Vince will be able to put him straight...

Photo: balloon over Cainscross

Guardian journalist George Monbiot has already exposed Branson on his 'green' credentials - read here - and a while back I wrote a press release in response to his plans to give profits to making aviation more sustainable - in that I said:

"UK aviation carbon emissions grew by 11% last year alone. The truth of it is that Governments must act to curb the growth in flying and cancel all airport expansion. If Branson talked more about limiting flights and expanding rail networks we would be more confident, but sadly now some people are given the impression that flying Virgin is somehow OK and will even help tackle climate change. Ministers have the opportunity to do tackle aviation in their review of policy later this year - we need a fundamental policy rethink."

Photo: pinched from Green Ladywell blog

Branson's latest offer is a £12.7m prize for a new wonder technology that would tackle climate change - known as the Virgin Earth Challenge. For this he has again been condemned by climate scientists and greens. Leading climate scientist Kevin Anderson, of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at Manchester University, said: "He's misguided, misinformed and potentially quite dangerous in making people think there is some great technological hope out there."

This does indeed seem to be about promoting hopeful, madcap magic bullet schemes when the reality is that we know what needs to be done - we just need the political will. It seems wrong to knock someone with such good intentions but far from helping could Branson actually be hindering the cause? I think it is a bit of both good and bad but certainly his actions are obscuring the reality from many - and that, as Kevin Anderson says, is 'dangerous'.

Meanwhile it is great to hear that at last Bush recognises climate change! He is clearly feeling the heat - his defensive letter put out by the White House on Wednesday began:

"Following last Friday's release of a new report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a number of media reports perpetuated inaccuracies that the president's concern about climate change is new...In fact, climate change has been a top priority since the president's first year in office. Beginning in June 2001, President Bush has consistently acknowledged climate change is occurring and humans are contributing to the problem."

Critics have pointed out that at least three times last year, Bush claimed climate science was up in the air. In June last year he said: "There is a debate over whether it's man-made or naturally caused."

We should also not forget Bush summarily rejected the preeminent global solution, the Kyoto Protocol, in 2001 - even though, as we're now told, he was quite convinced of the climate science at that point. Some other global solution, then? How about an international agreement to follow after Kyoto expires in 2012? Unfortunately Bush doesn't want that either.

Neither Branson nor Bush are anywhere near the eco warriers they need to be, but I am hopefully a shift is on it's way - we've come far in the last couple of years. Climate change is still in the news and more are waking up to what really needs to be done.