Murdoch empire to go carbon neutral by 2010

London, 10 May: Rupert Murdoch has promised to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from his media empire to zero by 2010. But, in a potentially more significant move, News Corporation's media outlets will be expected to "inspire their audiences" to take action on climate change.

News Corp will adopt energy efficiency measures and buy renewable energy to cut emissions as much as possible, then offset the rest using carbon credits. The firm will start buying credits from a wind farm project in India this year.

In a speech webcast to all News Corp employees, Murdoch said: "Climate change poses clear, catastrophic threats. We may not agree on the extent, but we certainly can't afford the risk of inaction."

During the 2006 fiscal year, News Corp emitted 641,150 tonnes of CO2 from operations in 52 countries. Some of its businesses have already started to take action. For example, the UK branch of publisher HarperCollins has signed a contract to buy renewable power, and is likely to reduce emissions to zero by the end of the year. Fox Entertainment Group, meanwhile, is offering financial incentives to employees who buy or hire hybrid cars.

But Murdoch also indicated that his media properties will be expected to adopt a more climate-friendly message, noting: "Our audience's footprint is 10,000 times bigger than ours."

News Corp's influence spans film, television including satellite and cable channels, newspapers such as The Times and The Sun in the UK, The New York Post in the US and dozens of publications in Australia, magazines, a book publisher and a web presence which includes the social networking site MySpace.

Murdoch said: "Imagine if we succeed in inspiring our audiences to reduce their own impacts on climate change by just 1%. That would be like turning the state of California off for almost two months."

Some of these properties, most notably the Fox news channel in the US, have been criticised for whipping up false controversy over the science of climate change, by NGOs such as Media Matters for America.

But MySpace has recently launched a channel dedicated to climate change, which at the time of going to press had just under 35,000 'friends', while The Times has measured the carbon footprint of a single issue.

News Corp has also joined The Climate Group. Steve Howard, chief executive of the non-profit business group, said: "For a global problem that is about raising awareness and changing behaviors, no one is better positioned than News Corporation to engage people on this issue and inspire action around the world."