“War is not a nice thing, but a carbon war is the right thing because it’s a call to arms… it is a war worth fighting,” says Sir Richard Branson, who was in Singapore to launch Carbon War Room’s “Creating Climate Wealth” event. He wants to spread the influence of the Carbon War Room to Asia and news too that it has linked up with the United Nations’ Sustainable Energy for All Initiative. Read More

Reports from Ken Hickson, Jessica Cheam, the Carbon War Room and news that the United Nations “Sustainable Energy for all” programme is joining forces with the Carbon War Room.

By the abc carbon express editor, Ken Hickson:

It was a pleasure to meet Sir Richard Branson in Singapore and talk to him. I’ve been an admirer of his from a long time. He is prepared to stick his neck out and do the extraordinary. To achieve things against all odds. To put his money where his mouth is.

He also recognises the business imperative and mobilises his own businesses and others to act. The Carbon War Room is a classic example of this. He admits – as do other industrialists and business people – that he is contributing to the problem  by adding fossil fuel derived CO2 to the atmosphere through his airlines, trains and businesses.  But he is doing all he can to reduce his business impact on the environment and getting others on board – not just his modes of transport!

For two days I joined about 200 others in Singapore to explore options and to come up with solutions. Things which would work to better manage waste for example. To see waste as a resource to be better managed and to produce energy instead of landfill.

Some great minds and some great business people got their heads together to look at shipping emissions and how to reduce them around the world. This is important for a country like Singapore with one of the busiest ports in the world.

Energy efficiency was uppermost in many minds – most importantly top of the agenda for Singapore’s Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Dr Vivian Balakrishnan who said in his opening speech:

“Energy efficiency is, at this point of time, the only game in town. Given that every joule, every kilowatt hour of energy in Singapore comes from imported fossil fuels.”

The good thing about Carbon War Room is that it doesn’t organise talk-fests and waste people’s time and money discussing things. It organises itself and those it comes in contact with to come up with workable solutions. Some will proceed in Asia and some will continue to be activated around the world.

Of course it helps that Sir Richard puts his name and brand to it, but he’s assembled a formidable group of people around the world to address these issues and opportunities.

A business like approach to the problem.

We will continue to bring you stories – successful or otherwise – about the work of the Carbon War Room – and how people in every country are getting involved.

See also the reports I produced for UbrainTv and Eco Tv on Sir Richard and the Carbon War Room.

Read also what Jessica Cheam reported for Eco-business com and the report on co-oportation between the Carbon War Room and the United Nations Sustainable Energy for all Initiative.

Source: www.abccarbon.com

Let’s do carbon-friendly, not carbon-dirty business: Richard Branson

Report from Jessica Cheam in Eco-Business.com:

Carbon War Room, the non-profit backed by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, is looking to expand in Asia and use Singapore as its base.

The founder and chairman of the Virgin Group told reporters this week that the outfit, which seeks to accelerate investment into carbon-cutting technologies, was “looking for business leaders in the Far East” to fight this war on carbon.

“We want to find groups of people who can help us in this region…we’d like to see Carbon War Room based in Singapore but helped by countries all around here. There’s so much new business taking place here, and so many imaginative ways that we can do it in a carbon-friendly way instead of carbon-dirty way,” said Mr Branson.

Scientists have blamed the accumulation of carbon in the atmosphere for worsening climate change.

Speaking on the sidelines of Carbon War Room’s Creating Climate Wealth summit – the first to be held in Asia on Monday – Mr Branson said the building industry is one area that Carbon War Room is looking into as dramatic savings can be achieved.

He conceded that his businesses “put out a lot of carbon” and this is why he started Carbon War Room in 2009.

“War is not a nice thing, but a carbon war is the right thing because it’s a call to arms… it is a war worth fighting,” he added.

Mr Branson also went to lengths to explain his latest venture – Virgin Galactic – which is introducing rocket-powered space tourism flights by the end of the year.

When he asked the 250-strong audience at the summit who wanted to go to space, almost everyone held up their hand.

“It’s an unusual business… but that’s the answer. Ninety per cent of the world wants to become astronauts. There’s nothing more captivating and enchanting and magnificent than to go up and look at our beautiful earth and have the experience of a lifetime,” he said.

“I’ve talked to the Russians.. and they said that with 50 million dollars, they’ll be happy to have me. With that money, I’d rather build my own,” he said to laughter in the audience.

When asked by Eco-Business later if this could be considered a ‘sustainable’ business, he said it would have a minor impact on climate change.

“We have reduced the carbon cost of someone going into space from something like two weeks of New York’s electricity supply… to less than the cost of a economy round-trip from Singapore to London,” he explained to reporters at Marina Bay Sands.

“New technology can dramatically reduce the carbon output and that is the challenge we have set ourselves,” he said.

More than 500 people have reserved seats on his space flight, and paid deposits on the $200,000 ticket price on the SpaceShipTwo (SS2). Its lightweight carbon-fibre body will also “reduce fuel burn dramatically”, he said.

The SS2 is designed to be launched by a transport plane called White KnightTwo and will be guided by a rocket motor before returning to Earth.

Speaking on the global climate crisis, Mr Branson said that the “problem with climate change is you can’t see it”. “Even though 98 per cent of scientists say we have a problem, the two per cent funded by the oil and coal industry have powerful voices and muddy the waters,” he said.

“We have to make it advantageous for people to use solar and wind and develop really clean batteries that the little shift could make an enormous difference,” he added.

Governments can play a role here by changing the playing field. Then, it’s about business leaders  “using our imagination, see how we can get our own house in order and save ourselves some money”.

Source: www.eco-business.com

Carbon War Room joins forces with UN Sustainable Energy for All Initiative

Carbon War Room Founder, Strive Masiyiwa Joins Advisory Board

Washington DC, May 21 2013: The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, joined with the President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, to convene the inaugural meeting of the Upper Level Advisory Board to the UN’s Sustainable Energy for All Initiative (SE4All). The SE4All Initiative is a multi-stakeholder partnership between governments, the private sector, and civil society.

Launched by the Secretary-General in 2011, it has three interlinked objectives to be achieved by 2030: provide universal access to modern energy, double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix, and double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency. The Carbon War Room is proud to support this initiative through our founder Strive Masiyiwa, who has joined as a member of the Advisory Board.

“Poverty should not be a permanent state of being. Energy is a resource that can and should be available to all in order to alleviate them from poverty and to bring economic freedom to the world’s most impoverished places.” -Strive Masiyiwa, Founder of Carbon War Room, Econet Wireless

The Carbon War Room is completely aligned with the SE4All Initiative in the conviction that access to energy is fundamental to reducing poverty, increasing productivity, creating jobs, enhancing competitiveness, promoting economic growth, and improving health.

Masiyiwa, bringing his experience as the founder of EcoNet Wireless, a large African Telecommunications Group, emphasized in his remarks at the Advisory Group meeting that the SE4All Initiative must ensure that the expansion of energy services is done sustainably. The Carbon War Room is working to demonstrate that renewable energy is fundamental to both keeping energy affordable and ensuring low carbon growth in developing countries. The expansion of renewable energy services to the poor is a large business opportunity – the energy poor are an untapped market, and providing energy services will open huge new revenue streams for many sector actors.

To tap into this business opportunity, the Carbon War Room shares the SE4All Initiative’s dedication to leveraging large-scale investments and mobilizing multi-million dollars of commitments in order to expand renewable energy access.

Entrepreneurs with renewable energy access technology need public and private-sector partnerships to successfully scale their distribution. Multiple channels exist by which energy expansion could occur. For example, the 500 million energy poor who own cell phones could be targeted via a mobile billing structure, whereby entrepreneurs partner with mobile network providers to distribute and finance technologies such as solar lanterns, solar charging stations, and even renewably-powered micro-grids.

Additionally, in order to reach the poorest of the poor who may not yet be able to purchase energy even in the smallest of incremental payments, entrepreneurs could access existing social welfare channels, putting energy right next to food or medical assistance on the list of fundamental services.

Whatever the delivery channel, Masiyiwa noted that, particularly in Africa, national import duties and taxes currently represent a huge market barrier that is hindering the ability for entrepreneurs and their partners to responsibly and profitably enter the space. He added, “to support energy access – we need new investments and business models in the regions that need it most.”

The Advisory Board serves as the highest tier of governance to the Initiative, providing overall strategic direction to the Executive Committee, headed by Bank of America chairman Charles Holiday, as well as to the Chief Executive of the Initiative’s Global Facilitation Team, Kandeh Yamkullah, who is Director General of UNIDO.

About the Carbon War Room

The Carbon War Room is a global entrepreneur initiative set up by Sir Richard Branson that accelerates entrepreneurial solutions to deploy profitable, scalable clean technologies across industries, and is a registered US non-profit, incubated by Virgin Unite.

Source: www.carbonwarroom.com