Virgin Group founder Richard Branson on Wednesday called on individuals and governments to limit their driving speed and reduce their warm-up in a bid to reduce Russian energy dependence and end the war in Ukraine. The billionaire entrepreneur told CNBC that small personal sacrifices could reduce the demand for Russian power, in turn, lowering prices and easing the cost of living crisis. “It’s really important to get rid of our dependence on Russian oil, gas and coal, and we need to do that right away,” Branson told CNBC’s Rosanna Lockwood. “If we can reduce the West’s dependence on fuel, say just 10%, it will release something like three billion barrels of fuel. It will be enough to make sure that countries like Germany don’t have to import anymore,” he said. . , referring to the dependence of European countries on Russian energy.
The price of oil would drop dramatically, and we should not continue to send checks to Putin. Richard Branson founder, Virgin Group
Russia is a major source of energy for consumers around the world. The European Union is highly dependent, importing 45% of its gas from Russia in 2021, according to the International Energy Agency. However, Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine earlier this year called into question its dependence. As governments have tried to reduce their dependence on Russian energy imports – which are seen as funding President Vladimir Putin’s war chest – prices have risen as global supply struggles to meet demand. Oil prices rose on Wednesday morning, with Brent crude futures trading at about $ 108.23 a barrel at 2 p.m. London time.
Reduce speeds, reduce heating
Among Branson’s suggestions for reducing individual energy consumption were a reduction in the use of central heating and household air conditioning by 1% and a reduction in driving speed by 10%. Governments could, for example, reduce the national speed limit from 70 [miles per hour] to 60 next year “to support Ukraine,” he said. “Fuel demand will drop dramatically and therefore the price of fuel will drop dramatically and therefore the cost of living will drop dramatically,” he said.
In the meantime, businesses can find other ways to limit energy consumption, Branson said. Airlines such as its own Virgin Atlantic – which have been severely affected by rising energy costs as they try to take advantage of a resurgence of post-pandemic travel – could reduce some unprofitable routes, for example. “If you’re an airline, maybe [cut] a few routes that don’t make a lot of money,” Branson said. “If [you] spread it to all businesses and all over the world, the price of oil would drop dramatically and we should not have continued to send checks to Putin,” he added.
The clean energy revolution is happening and will happen much faster than if this war did not happen. Richard Branson founder, Virgin Group
Branson said his proposals represent the views of a group of business leaders, known as Team B. The nonprofit, founded by Branson and Jochen Zeitz in 2012, is trying to gain “business responsibility,” according to the website. its website, and has members including Marc Benioff and Arianna Huffington. The comments follow a blog post earlier Wednesday in which Branson warned Western countries that they had sent “billions of dollars to Russia for fossil fuels.”
Cleaner energy and lower prices
Some market observers have suggested that a rapid reduction in energy consumption in Russia would lead to further destabilization of already volatile energy prices. Branson, however, suggested that it would have the opposite effect, supporting prices, while assisting countries in the transition to cleaner energy sources.