Simply, Branson is an "entrepreneur" or how other rich people like to name themselves; "socialite" and we can go on and on putting a title to your name as "Sir" etc...
He is a business man first and Sir and environmentalist second. He has so much wealth and connections that he can made up an any full size page article in London times and you will buy it.
When you are in the position as he is you just have to pretend you care for the planet and the rest of us who live here, but in reality he doesn't give a jack....t about it.
Trying out a coconut derived biofuel was the biggest joke I have ever read and they actually got backed up by Shell,hahahaha....nuts.
We need to conquer few other planets
of the size of Earth to produce enough biofuel for all the airplanes flying daily around the globe...
And this thing about towing a fully loaded airplane to reduce emissions is all about publicity and has nothing to do with being "green".
It gives you some extra "free" time in the media and what is better that hearing all these stories about Virgin going green, but no one actualy does the count about it on the end of the day.
So be ready for more unbelieveable stories of Dr.Branson in the future...