Willing To Put Money Where His Mouth Is On Emissions

There's at least one airline CEO willing to put his money where his mouth is when it comes to paying for greenhouse gas emissions from commercial airliners. Virgin Group chairman Sir Richard Branson told attendees of a meeting on climate change Tuesday that all carriers should be willing to pay so-called "carbon offsets" against damaging emissions from their planes.

The Associated Press reports Branson told the Global Humanitarian Forum he is willing to lead by example, and offered to pay carbon-related taxes on his aviation-related businesses.

"If you run a dirty business -- an airline business, a shipping business, ... coal business, you should pay for the privilege because you are doing damage," Branson said.

That position was applauded by the head of the forum, former United Nation's chief Kofi Annan. "We must recognize that the polluter must pay, and not the poor and vulnerable," Annan said. "We must have climate justice."

Abdul Gayoom is president of The Maldives, a band of 1,200 islands in the Indian Ocean. He said his nation faces elimination if sea levels rise, as a result of global warming... and suggested proceeds from aviation-related carbon offsets go towards benefitting small nations.

FMI: www.virgin.com, www.ghf-ge.org/