Attendees of last week’s meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative were asked to make specific commitments toward advancing solutions to global problems such as poverty, religious and ethnic conflict and climate change. While Richard Branson’s planned investment of approximately $3 billion in renewable energy initiatives has taken a large share of the press, companies not immediately identified with humanitarian or green causes also accepted Clinton’s challenge.
Wal-Mart plans to leverage its purchasing power to reduce waste by encouraging environmentally friendly packaging. In Nicaragua, Merck plans to immunize 600,000 infants a year against rotavirus. But no global problem-solving plan was more surprising than Rupert Murdoch’s announcement, reported in the Financial Times, that he aims to tackle climate change by making News Corp. carbon neutral.
A carbon neutral company releases no net carbon dioxide emissions. This is achieved by reducing emissions and offsetting what emissions they do produce by planting trees or investing in other energy conservation projects that reduce overall carbon dioxide emissions. On the heels of the Clinton Global Initiative conference, The Financial Times quotes Murdoch saying he was “examining” how to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions “in every country where we are.”
Murdoch is an unlikely crusader against global warming. He’s long been skeptical of anthropogenic climate change. Liberals have often accused the News Corp. media empire of censorship and biased coverage when it comes to the issue of global warming.
In a review of “An Inconvenient Truth” that appeared in the News Corp.-owned New York Post, many felt reviewer Kyle Smith spoke for his corporate master when he accused
“Look carefully at Gore’s charts and you’ll see that the worst horrors take place in the future of his imagination.”
Given his history, Murdoch’s U-turn on this issue is enough to provoke whiplash. Yet, perhaps his change of heart was not as rapid as that of Saul on the road to Damascus. There were recent indications that Murdoch was reevaluating his stance on global warming. In August, Murdoch invited Al Gore to give his climate change presentation at the annual News Corp meeting in Pebble Beach.
But what has provoked Murdoch to open his mind about global warming?
Signs suggest Murdoch’s son James, presumable heir apparent since his brother Lachlan’s resignation from News Corp. last year, may be influencing his father on this issue. This March, as CEO, of British satellite operator BSkyB, James spearheaded a carbon neutral policy for the company, setting a target to reduce corporate carbon dioxide emissions by 10% below 2002/2003 levels by 2010.
What do you think caused Murdoch’s change of heart? Is it an example of jumping on the popular bandwagon, a true conversion, or something in between? Also, what do you think of other commitments pledged by people and corporations thanks to the Clinton Global Initiative?