By Kyle Peterson

CHICAGO, April 24 (Reuters) - British billionaire entrepreneur and environmentalist Richard Branson is putting his giant green footprint on global aviation and he wants the White House to follow his example.

The blond, goateed media darling on Tuesday said his Virgin Atlantic Airways <VA.UL> airline has entered a partnership with Boeing Co. <BA.N> to cut pollution by Virgin's planes. Virgin said it would buy 15 Boeing 787-9 jets, which are touted as more fuel efficient that rival planes.

The order, worth about $2.8 billion at list prices, marks the start of a program by Branson and Virgin Atlantic to reduce fuel consumption as well as cut aircraft emissions. The carrier also plans to hold a biofuel demonstration with one of its aircraft in 2008.

Branson said the United States, the world's leading source of gases like carbon dioxide, must do more to cut its emissions. Experts say carbon emissions are driving global warming.

"I think the U.S. government has not taken the role in the last eight years," Branson told Reuters after a press conference at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.

"The world is much more damaged as a result," he said.

Branson, whose sprawling Virgin empire includes a stem cell storage bank and a commercial "spaceline," is well-known as an environmental activist.

In February, Branson announced a $25 million prize for the first person to come up with a way of scrubbing greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere.

He also has pledged to spend all the profits from his airline and rail businesses to fight global warming.

It is "extremely vital," Branson said, that the next U.S. president take a greater interest in cutting greenhouse gases than President George W. Bush.

CLEAN-AIR CONCERNS

Branson, who is not a U.S. citizen, said he has no plans to get involved in a 2008 presidential campaign, and he declined to endorse a particular candidate.

But he said clean-air concerns were becoming increasingly prominent in campaign platforms, especially among Democrats.

"It is obviously essential that any candidate is 100 percent committed to reducing the CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions in America by at least 25 percent," Branson said.

A United Nations climate panel on April 6 issued its starkest warning yet about the impact of man-made global warming, ranging from rising sea levels, floods, famines, disease and storms, in a report that increased pressure on governments to act.

Aircraft are one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gases, and airlines are under increasing pressure to cut them.

Environmental groups say mandatory emission cuts are urgently needed, but policy makers so far have been unable to reach a consensus on a goal or a plan.

The White House has called for voluntary cuts in emissions intensity of 18 percent by 2012, which does not necessarily mean overall emissions will drop.

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