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21 May 2008

A billionaire oil-man's response to climate change

Posted by: David Willans

A billionaire oil-man's response to climate change

"Opponents say it's going to cost so much money to address. And I say, well, hell, go ahead and spend it. I'd rather take change that I'm right than that I'm wrong. I don't want to wait until around until the house burns down 'til I decide whether it's a serious fire or not."

That's what the 80 year old billionaire Texan oilman T. Boone Pickens, clearly a man with the courage of his convictions, thinks about climate change, from an interview in the latest issue of Fast Company. 

He's building the world's largest windfarm, costing $10 billion and is expecting a return of between 15 - 25% on his cash.

Without meaning to sound disparaging, why has it fallen to an 80 year old from the heart of oil land to take the lead on renewables? We've got 387 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere, the highest level in 650,000 years, why is there so little action?

Skeptics might argue T.Boone has lost the plot, but this is a bloke who floated Clean Energy Fuels on Nasdaq last year and made billions from BP Capital, his fossil-fuel hedge fund he founded when he was 68.

Let's hope more financiers follow his lead.

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