Star of Hit Show 24 Fights Global Warming 'crime'

On screen, he has already saved the world several times over in ever more convoluted ways. Now Kiefer Sutherland, the actor who plays secret agent Jack Bauer in the hit US show 24, has pledged to fight global warming as the series aims to become the first carbon neutral TV program.

Sutherland has already filmed a public service announcement in the US extolling the virtues of a green lifestyle. The show's producers have now promised to save energy and reduce carbon emissions while incorporating climate change into the plot in an attempt to "inspire" its millions of viewers to take the issues seriously "before it's too late".

In the announcement, Sutherland says: "Global warming is a crime for which we are all guilty. From our cars to our homes and our workplaces, we are all releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, thus raising the temperature of our planet."

As the 24 clock ticks down, he adds: "If we don't do something about it now, this change in our climate will unleash irreversible damage. All of us at 24 understand the urgency of this problem and over the next year we will be implementing creative new ways to more efficiently produce our show and significantly reduce our carbon footprint. And you can too."

The programme is made by 20th Century Fox, the Hollywood studio owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Mr Murdoch's son James, chief executive of BSkyB, which shows 24 in the UK, has become an enthusiastic convert to the green cause.

He was behind the screening of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth at a News Corporation global summit last year and has branded BSkyB a "carbon neutral company".