COP26: what to remember from the 1,300 solutions listed by Solar Impulse

Europe 1 8:30 a.m., October 31, 2021

DECRYPTION

"Everyone talks about the problems, but nobody talks about the solutions."

This is the observation of Bertrand Piccard, president of the Solar Impulse foundation, who has just published the book 

 (Stock editions) a few days before the opening of the COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland.

A very important moment for the climate, which Switzerland anticipates with a list of more than 1,300 solutions to overcome the findings and prevent ecological disasters, detailed several times on Europe 1.

Inventory à la Proust, green version

The doctor, explorer and pilot launched into this directory, which is now available online, in 2016, at the time of COP22.

Since then, the "Solar Impulse Efficient Solution Label", a certification for companies seeking to develop solutions for a cleaner future, has grown.

"We have identified 1,300 solutions that exist today, which are financially profitable, which protect the environment and which make it possible to fight against climate change", he boasts at the microphone of Sonia Mabrouk, in mid-October. 

Six sectors, 1,309 references, one goal

The 1,309 labeled solutions - of which a small third are French - are divided between six sectors: "water, energy, industry, agriculture, mobility and construction", he detailed on Europe 1, in April, when the label exceeded a thousand references.

A quarter is now devoted to waste and pollution and a tenth to transport, for example, while 70% of them have passed the prototype stage to be marketed.

With one constant: the search for efficiency, "a minimum of means for a maximum of effectiveness".

Find here the show 

Find here Sonia Mabrouk's interview with Bertrand Piccard, October 20 

Profitability, a necessity for the index

As Bertrand Piccard explains, who prefers "realism" to hope, the economic argument for profitability often acts as a trigger with the public.

"When you say that ecology can create jobs, that environmental protection is an industrial opportunity because there are new systems and new products that can be put in place to protect the environment and that it makes the industry go round, you are well received, much better than if you come howling wolves ", he says to explain the good consideration of his ideas.

Greta Thunberg + Bertrand Piccard, the right cocktail?

And it is precisely this focus on profitable solutions that encourages the various players to act.

Not really against Greta Thunberg and her gloomy predictions, but in complementarity, assures the scientist.

"But when Greta Thunberg comes before me in UN conferences, it shocks everyone. Everyone starts to panic," said the activist.

"Once I say that there are 1,300 profitable solutions found with the Solar Impulse Foundation, they listen to me a lot more and we will adopt these solutions a lot more because people were shocked. You have to shock and do fear, provided the solutions are found. "