Branson pledges £1.6bn billion to combat global warming

Billionaire businessman Richard Branson has committed $3 billion (nearly £1.6 billion) over the next 10 years to combating global warming.

"We are very pleased today to be making a commitment to invest 100 per cent of all future proceeds to the Virgin Group from our transportation interest, both our trains and airline businesses, into tackling global warming," Branson told a news conference at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York.

The conference, which began on Wednesday, aims to bring together government, business and nonprofit sectors in an effort to spur action on poverty, health care, global warming and religious/ethnic conflict.

The 56-year-old entrepreneur - thought to be worth over £3 billion - began his Virgin empire in 1984 when he launched Virgin Atlantic Airways. In 1997 he moved into the railway business with Virgin Trains and in 1999 he launched Virgin Mobile.