Reconciling ecology and the economy to achieve clean, qualitative growth.
For Bertrand, climate change can only be tackled from the perspective of profitability and popular support. As a trained psychiatrist, Bertrand considers that people do not easily change their habits and that the ecological transition cannot come at the expense of growth and comfort. Today, at the head of the Solar Impulse Foundation, he is committed to identifying and labeling 1000 solutions that protect the environment in a profitable manner. By supporting clean technologies and efficient solutions that he considers "logical" as well as "ecological", he wants to highlight the opportunities that arise from combating climate change, and to present them to decision-makers around the world, encouraging them to adopt more ambitious policies for the environment and energy production.
« We will go nowhere if we try to protect the environment by threatening human comfort, mobility and economic development. »
#1000 profitable solutions to protect the environment
Hundreds of innovative solutions exist to protect the environment in a cost-effective way. They involve water, energy, construction, mobility, industry and agriculture, but are too often overlooked. Bertrand Piccard, through his Solar Impulse Foundation, has set himself the challenge of selecting 1,000 clean solutions, labeling their economic profitability as much as their technological credibility, and bringing them to political and economic decision-makers in order to accelerate the transition to an efficient economy.
Ambassador for progress and sustainability
As a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and a guest speaker at major international meetings on the environment - G7, United Nations Climate Summit, COP - he promotes clean growth, and denounces the absurdity of the polluting, inefficient systems that are still all too often in use today. Bertrand's success also stems from his ability to build bridges between extreme positions and to develop synergies where others see only opposing camps. It was in this spirit that in 2018 he created the World Alliance for Efficient Solutions. This brings together innovators, investors, public institutions and large groups committed to a sustainable future.
An approach focused on solutions
4 axes for action
1. Qualitative Growth
Demonstrate how qualitative growth can bypass the dilemma between degrowth, leading to social chaos, and quantitative growth, leading to ecological disaster.
2. Economic Opportunities
Prove how new, clean technologies and the efficient solutions that are needed to combat climate change will open up new opportunities for economic development, yielding profitable investments rather than costs.
4 axes for action
4. Legal Framework
Make the case for the modernization of our legal framework, to facilitate the marketing of innovative products and new, clean and energy-efficient processes.
3. Market of the Century
Explain why replacing old, polluting devices and systems with modern, efficient technologies represents the industrial market opportunity of the century.
My vision of the future is that of a « clean » more than a « green » future.
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2004
Bertrand Piccard defined the symbolic and political scope of the Solar Impulse project in a Manifesto, in which he shared his vision and the meaning of his approach:
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« Solar Impulse was not built to carry passengers but to convey messages. We want to demonstrate the importance of the pioneering spirit, to encourage people to call their certainties into question. Our world needs new solutions to improve the quality of human life. »
Bertrand Piccard -
2013
Presentation of the « Clean Generation » initiative to Ban Ki Moon at the United Nations in New York, just after Solar Impulse had flown coast-to-coast across the USA. A strong message that converged with the United Nations environmental policy.
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«Humanity could cut its energy consumption in half by replacing old technologies with clean technologies »
Bertrand Piccard
December 2015COP21
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Nomination as UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador.
Bertrand is still pursuing this mission today.
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At the request of the French President, François Hollande, Bertrand Piccard set out
7 principles for solving climate change by using clean technologies:
Emphasize solutions rather than problems.
Stop depicting the protection of nature as a threat to mobility, comfort and economic growth.
Speak about profitable investments rather than high costs.
Offer a share of the return on investment to the rich countries as well as the poor.
Never fix objectives without spelling out the ways in which they can be achieved.
Combine legal frameworks and private initiatives.
Act in the interests of present, as well as future generations.
Committing to clean technologies and efficient solutions is simply « logical » let alone « ecological »
2016Solar Impulse:
and what if this symbol of hope could overfly our society?
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« A giant step forward that sends a strong message to the entire world »
Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General -
April
Message to the United Nations from the cockpit
of Solar Impulse in mid-Pacific, a message delivered live to the Assembly of the United Nations and Ban Ki-moon, as well as to the 175 countries gathered together to sign the Paris Agreement on climate change.
« Clean technologies offer profitable solutions for tackling environmental challenges »
Bertrand Piccard -
« We have flown 40,000 km around the world without any fuel, an energy achievement without precedent. Now it’s your turn to go even further! »
Bertrand Piccard -
July
An Energy First.
Even more than an aeronautical “first”, Solar Impulse‘s around-the-world flight was an energy first. The success of Solar Impulse has demonstrated the enormous potential of modern technologies to save natural resources, use clean energy and improve our quality of life.
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« Clean and profitable solutions are a formidable lever for qualitative rather than quantitative economic growth »
Bertrand Piccard -
December
Launch of the 1000 Solutions Challenge
to perpetuate the symbolism of the first around-the-world flight in a solar plane.
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2017
COP 23 : Founding meeting of the World Alliance for Efficient Solutions.
Convinced of the need to bring together all involved in clean technology to meet environmental challenges, Bertrand Piccard created the World Alliance for Efficient Solutions. This community is above all a "breeding ground" of more than 3,000 innovative companies, investors and public authorities looking for profitable ways of protecting the environment.
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2016 - Today
Various interventions within major international institutions:
United Nations, European Community, Climate Summits, Clean Energy Ministries, World Economic Forum, TED and several governmental bodies.
Participation in the EU Energy Tour
at the invitation of the Vice-President of the Energy Union at the European Commission, Maros Sefcovic. This was to promote the “Energy Union strategy”, a project that aims to provide secure, sustainable and competitive energy for every European citizen.
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2018 - Today
One Planet Lab
At the request of the French President, Emmanuel Macron, Bertrand joined this think-thank that brings together 31 international leaders to identify innovative solutions and actions, create new coalitions and make suggestions on how to combat climate change. In this context, Bertrand Piccard was joint manager of the carbon neutrality and zero-emission mobility project, together with Laurence Tubiana, director of the European Climate Foundation.
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2019Participation at the G7 Summit
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Speech as representative of civil society at the G7
Selected by the French government to speak at the 45th G7 meeting in Biarritz, Bertrand called on heads of state to adopt courageous policies to counter the climate crisis. Bertrand Piccard's intervention reflected his work with the One Planet Lab, and focused on the advancement of clean mobility and decarbonizing the transport sector.
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2020 - Today
Special adviser to the European Commission
Bertrand appointed for a period of four years by Vice-President Maros Sefcovic to search for new societal solutions as part of the Foresight project, a green recovery program.
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April 2020
Presentation of the Guide to 1000 Solutions
1000 Efficient solutions proving that ecology can be at the service of the economy. A concrete process as well as a reference tool that will provide decision-makers with what they need to reduce their impact on the planet, while promoting job creation and thus building consensus for clean economic growth.
« Inject the explorer's spirit and shake up our perception of the world and the laws that govern it. Inspire industries to rethink the ways they produce and use energy, to move responsibly towards qualitative growth. These are the keys to finding tomorrow's solutions »
