Rupert Murdoch is obviously a smart guy, having built a media empire around the world that is very profitable and continues to grow. Like him and his product or not, the man has been an enormous success. Although he surely has some core beliefs, he's also clever enough (or possibly cynical enough) to sniff out an opportunity and run with it. This is a man who despite the overwhelmingly conservative tone of his media empire, he has been a big supporter of Tony Blair and has been receptive to Hillary's campaign. Sure, neither is on the left side of the spectrum, but neither necessarily jumps out as what you would expect from Murdoch. Regardless of his intentions - cynical or real - this new development is very significant because this is the leader of the right wing media in the Anglo world, India, China and beyond.
Mr Murdoch has bought a Toyota-made Lexus GS450H "green" car, and other practical measures include solar-powered golf carts to carry people round the Fox film lot in Hollywood, building environmentally friendly studios, replacing company fleets with hybrids, using renewable energy, and offsetting remaining emissions by financing windpower in India.
The world's most prominent media tycoon is being hailed by environmentalists as the most important of a chain of high-profile new recruits to the battle to control climate change, including Sir Richard Branson and Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive of Tesco.
His planned campaign "to change the way the public thinks about these issues" could be particularly effective because of the strength of his operations in the United States, China and India, the three most critical countries for tackling global warming. Mr Murdoch told his employees: "We must first get out own house in order."
News Corporation has a carbon footprint of at 641,150 tons a year and will now aim to be carbon neutral by 2010. News International, which publishes his British newspapers, and the publishers HarperCollins will achieve this goal by the end of the year and all books published by the imprint Fourth Estate are to be printed on recycled paper from 1 July.
