Sir Richard Branson says “the only businesses around in 20 years time will be green and sustainable businesses”

Writing in The Guardian, Sir Richard Branson said that the CEO of British Airways, Willie Walsh, was wrong to describe Virgin’s support for biofuels as “a bit of a PR stunt” and said that British Airways “doesn’t have an environmental strategy.” He said that “the only businesses around in 20 years time will be green and sustainable businesses,” and added that “Sniping from the sidelines is not the answer to climate change. If Walsh, who’s clearly used to being handed solutions on a plate, had his way the industry would go backwards. We need everyone to take action now.”

Meanwhile, the World Development Movement called the Virgin 747 biodiesel test flight a “publicity stunt with dangerous consequences for the planet” and said that Virgin owner Sir Richard Branson “should back a campaign to include aviation in the climate change bill.”
Branson, in remarks surrounding the Virgin 747 biodiesel test flight, said that algae would almost certainly be the feedstock for commercial aviation biofuels, implying that the selection of coconut and babassu oil had been made in light of an algae oil shortage.

Jon Dee, founder of Planet Ark, said “it is good to show that you can fly major airliners on alternative fuels. I think that it is vital that as quickly as possible we move away from business as normal. But what we should be looking at, I think, is how we get that biofuel derived from algae. That is the best way to go when it comes to biofuel.”

Airbus said recently that the global aircraft fleet will double by 2026 — to more than 28,000 passenger and cargo aircraft, up from 13,000 today, and said that the industry’s share of greenhouse gas emissions would increase from 2 percent to 3 percent, even with the introduction of new eco-friendly jet engines. The Aviation Environment Federation, said that the 50% reduction in fuel consumption suggested by Boeing as a 2050 target, must be brought forward by several decades.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has set a goal of making planes 25 percent more fuel efficient by 2022, and “zero emission” planes within 50 years, but with airlines expected to increase fleet size by 140 percent in the next 20 years, such an effort would not keep pace with the rate of airline fleet growth.

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