Rupert Murdoch, the 75-year-old chairman and chief executive of News Corp, is planning to push all parts of his media empire to become environmentally friendly, using the strategies put in place by his son and heir apparent James at British satellite operator BSkyB as a model, write Aline van Duyn and Andrew Jack in New York and Fiona Harvey in London.
Mr Murdoch, better known as a sceptic on global warming, said at a conference organised by Bill Clinton, former US president, that climate change was important and he was planning to put in place strategies across his News Corp media business to tackle it.
News Corp owns newspapers in the UK, Australia and the US, the Fox News Channel, 20th Century Fox studios and numerous television stations in the US, operations in India and China and also internet assets, such as popular social networking site MySpace.
"We're going to be absolutely carbon neutral" across News Corp's businesses, Mr Murdoch said, adding he was "examining" how to eliminate emissions "in every country where we are".
Mr Murdoch said he only found out about James's plan to make BSkyB carbon neutral, announced in May and one of the first companies to do so, after it was put in place.
Becoming carbon neutral involves reducing greenhouse gas emissions and "offsetting" the rest by investing in projects such as windfarms or forests that reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
James, widely regarded as the likely heir to Mr Murdoch after his brother Lachlan resigned his operating role within News Corp last year, has taken on climate change as a key issue.
Mr Murdoch's adoption of his son's strategy is seen as a further sign that James is starting to influence his father.
