Australia must face challenges head on: Rupert Murdoch | The Courier-Mail

Climate change is another area where Australia needs to lead rather than follow. I’m not sold on the more apocalyptic visions of climate change. But I do believe that the planet deserves the benefit of the doubt. I believe there will be great rewards for those Australians who discover new ways of reducing emissions or cleaning the environment. Here at News in Australia, we are encouraging that process through an initiative called 1 Degree. It’s about every one of our people making small changes that together make a big difference. This program is part of a larger corporate initiative that is designed with a clear goal – to have all of our businesses around the world carbon neutral by 2010. And we are counting on the talents and creativity of all our employees to meet that goal.

Our emphasis should be on practical solutions. We cannot address climate change merely with emotion. The ultimate solution is not to punish the Australian economy by imposing standards that the rest of the world will never meet. It’s to take the lead in developing real alternatives to solve the problem by offering clean, cheap energy to meet the growing demand. The world desperately needs these cleaner and more abundant sources of energy. That will require huge investments in new technology. But the upside is huge. If we can develop cleaner and cheaper sources of energy, we will grow our economy while leaving a greener, cleaner world for our children and grandchildren.