Rupert Murdoch has long been at the cutting edge of change and has never been one to rest on past successes. When Murdoch believes in something strongly, most of the world usually knows what that belief is. He has also never been too concerned about the toes he steps on to pursue his goals or to stand up for his belief. So it shouldn't come as a surprise to see the News Corporation Chairman come up with the ambitious plan to be carbon neutral by 2010.In a speech given to 47,000 News Corporation employees around the world on the 9th of May, 2007, Rupert Murdoch shared his ideas on global warming and the impact that his energy initiative would have on his company. The 76 year old media mogul gave the talk live by webcast at the Hudson Theater, New York City.

Murdoch hasn't always been a convert to the environmental movement though, and has even been skeptical of the claims that environmentalists had been making. Late last year he said "I have to admit that, until recently, I was somewhat wary of the (global) warming debate. I believe it is now our responsibility to take the lead on this issue."

Now that the science and the proof of global warming has become concrete, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is at the forefront of global companies that are working to change the way we treat the planet. His son and head of the News Corp. owned British Sky Broadcasting company in the UK may have also made an impact on the greening of Rupert. James Murdoch drives a Toyota Prius and has already made BSkyB a carbon neutral company before his father's energy initiative was announced.

News Corporation's energy initiative aims to lessen the company's impact on climate change by addressing the following..
Reducing its energy consumption and switching to renewable sources of power when economically feasible
Becoming carbon neutral
Engaging its employees, business partners and its audiences

A media company may not be as damaging to the environment as an old energy or industrial company, but when you are as global as News Corporation is, with more than 47,000 employees, it can have quite an environmental impact. Murdoch said that the global media company put out about 641,150 tons of greenhouse gases in 2006. When the goal of carbon neutrality is achieved across all News Corporation companies "it will have the same impact as turning off the electricity in the city of London for five full days" Murdoch told his employees.

As many politicians around the world have seen, a media company can be very influential. A global media company spread across as many different mediums and countries as News Corporation can change the way people think. If his previous experience with influencing political decisions is any indication of the change that Rupert Murdoch can make on the climate change issue, the earth will soon be breathing much easier.

His liking for the environment is a bias that Murdoch can openly flaunt as people see climate change as one of the biggest challenges we have ever faced. Rupert talked about the influence of News Corporation in his speech by saying..

"We can do something that's unique, different from just any other company. We can set an example, and we can reach our audiences. Our audience's carbon footprint is 10,000 times bigger than ours. That's the carbon footprint we want to conquer.
We cannot do it with gimmicks. We need to reach them in a sustained way. To weave this issue into our content-- make it dramatic, make it vivid, even sometimes make it fun. We want to inspire people to change their behavior.
Imagine if we succeed in inspiring our audiences to reduce their own impacts on climate change by just one percent. That would be like turning the State of California off for almost two months.
And imagine if... we were able to take on the carbon footprint of our audience in Asia. Many of the most serious impacts of climate change will be felt there, and China and India's emissions are rising rapidly. STAR is the number one Hindi-language network in the world. In India alone, we reach 100 million people.
The challenge is to revolutionize the message." See full Rupert Murdoch Speech

Rupert Murdoch isn't about to grow a beard and start hugging trees though. He is still a businessman first. The energy savings will save the company money while also saving the environment. 20th Century Fox movies are also not about to make all their big screen heroes drive a hybrid.. "There are limits to how far we can push this issue in our content. Not every hero on television can drive a hybrid car. Oftentimes it just won't fit. We must avoid preaching." Rupert Murdoch Quote