British entrepreneur and founder of Virgin Group Sir Richard Branson has told business leaders that a renewable-powered world is feasible by 2050, adding that it would be "pretty dreadful" if the forthcoming UN climate summit in Paris did not achieve binding goals on global carbon emission reductions.
Branson told the gathering at the UN General Assembly in New York that the Paris conference, which will begin on November 30, is the ideal opportunity to make sweeping changes to the way the world sources and consumes energy.
In his speech, the tycoon called for an end to oil drilling in the Arctic, a cap on coal use, an end to fossil fuel subsidies and a global carbon tax an expense he himself is happy to bear in the short term.
"Obviously Ive got three airline, it wont be great news in the short term, but it definitely needs to see a global carbon tax," he said.
Branson added that monies raised from a global carbon tax should be steered into a "big innovation pot", with the end result being, by 2050, "a world where were powered by sun, were powered by wind were powered by other innovations."
To achieve this vision, the businessman stressed, "countries that are big oil producers, coal producers, are going to have to adapt, but the vast majority of the world will benefit.
"It will pull everyone out of poverty and it will be a really exciting world to aim for," Branson said.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.