VOA News - Virgin Group Founder Commits Billions of Dollars to Help Environment - by Kane Farabaugh

Richard Branson - chairman of the Virgin Group

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Virgin Group Founder Commits Billions of Dollars to Help Environment - by Kane Farabaugh

Richard Branson sits on the top-ten list of the United Kingdom's richest citizens, with an estimated wealth of roughly eight billion dollars. As the company he founded -- Virgin Group -- tries to expand its airline operations into the United States, Branson is committing billions of dollars of the company's future profits to developing renewable energy.

In February, Branson announced the Virgin Earth Challenge, a $25 million prize for the person who develops a working solution to remove greenhouse gases from the Earth's atmosphere. "To devise a way of removing greenhouse gases, at least the equivalent of one billion tons of carbon per year -- hopefully much more, and you will have the satisfaction of saving thousands of species and possibly even mankind itself."