Team behind solar plane identifies 1,000 eco-solutions

The Solar Impulse Foundation has identified 1,000 “clean and profitable” solutions to address sustainability challenges while enabling economic growth. These technologies and products will be brought together in a guide for individuals, businesses and governments.

Four years ago the Lausanne-based foundation headed by Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard set itself the challenge of identifying 1,000 solutions to protect the environment in a cost-effective manner. The aim was to encourage political and economic decision-makers to adopt much more ambitious energy and environmental policies.

Today that milestone has been reached, the Solar Impulse Foundation said in a statement on Tuesday. More than 1,000 solutions have been awarded the Solar Impulse Efficient Solution label after a “rigorous assessment based on a verified methodology and against several criteria performed by external independent experts”.

These solutions are technologies, products, processes, or services coming from start-ups and big companies and cover the sectors of water, energy, construction, mobility, industry, and agriculture. New ideas will continue to be awarded the label, it said.

Piccard hopes for a large-scale implementation. To achieve this, he will provide various public authorities with a Cleanprint, a report giving a “clear and concrete path” to better climate protection. The first such document will be presented at the Climate Conference (COP26) in Glasgow in November.

Piccard has been committed to clean technologies for many years. In 1999 he completed a round-the-world balloon flight. Between 2015 and 2016, together with André Borschberg, he completed the first round-the-world flight in a solar plane – with Solar Impulse – covering more than 42,000km in 17 stages without fuel.