Virgin Airways’ green challenge - What’s in it for Branson?

Recently Virgin Airways tycoon, Sir Richard Branson, offered a $25 million prize for an invention which could efficiently remove CO2 from the atmosphere.

Dutch climate skeptic Prof. Hendrick Tennekes wonders why and does some calculations:

"I am an old-fashioned aeronautical engineer, so I did a few sums. First I had to find some data on the size of Virgin’s fleet. I looked that up with Google, and found these approximate numbers: 15 Boeings 747, 25 Airbus 340, 50 Boeings 737, 50 Boeings 737 New Generation."
[...]
"In my estimate the Virgin Airways fleet pollutes our world with close to 8 million tons of CO2 each year. At current CO2 market prices, that would cost Branson $200 million annually. No wonder he turns green. Can he afford it?"
[...]
Bottom line:
"He surely needs the technological fix he is angling for with his Virgin Airways
Mitigation Prize.

Here’s the whole article.