Rupert Murdoch's awakening to the environment has resulted in News Corporation committing to become carbon neutral by 2010, and to engaging its vast global audience on the issue.
In announcing its strategy to address its use of energy and impact on the climate, the company stated its goals are to reduce its operations' carbon emissions significantly and to engage its 47,000 employees and its millions of readers, viewers and web users around the world on this issue.
All News Corporation business units will become carbon neutral by 2010 - through energy efficiency, buying renewable power and offsetting otherwise unavoidable emissions.
News Corp says becoming carbon neutral is only the beginning of the company's permanent commitment to change the way it uses energy and to reach its audiences on this issue. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch said in an address to employees in New York, "If we are to connect with our audiences on this issue, we must first get our own house in order. We have just begun this effort, and we have a long way to go. Our global reach gives us an unprecedented opportunity to inspire action from all corners of the world.
Murdoch said, "The climate problem will not be solved without mass participation by the general public everywhere."
Highlights of News Corporation's initiative:
- News Corp is the first global media company to commit to becoming carbon neutral.
- For fiscal 2006, News Corporation's carbon footprint is 641,150 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents and was measured across the 52 countries in which News Corp. has activities.
- News Corporation has joined The Climate Group, an independent, nonprofit organisation dedicated to advancing business and government leadership on climate change.
- MySpace has launched a channel dedicated to climate change
- Fox Entertainment Group has offered its employees an incentive to purchase or lease hybrid cars
- The company's first LEED-certified building is under construction on the Fox studio lot in LA.
- News Digital Media in Australia and News America Marketing in the US are replacing vehicles in their fleets with hybrids.
- News International and HarperCollins UK have both entered into agreements to purchase renewable energy and will be carbon neutral by the end of this year.
- To partner with suppliers to jointly reduce emissions, The Times of London has measured the carbon footprint of a single copy of the newspaper.
