Zero-emissions flights will become a reality by 2035, Bertrand Piccard says
My Wildest Prediction is a podcast series from Euronews Business where we dare to imagine the future with business and tech visionaries. In this episode, Tom Goodwin talks to Bertrand Piccard, Swiss psychiatrist, aviator, and global explorer, about green hydrogen planes and the Climate Impulse project.
In 1999, the Swiss psychiatrist and aviator Bertrand Piccard, along with his friend and British pilot Brian Jones, completed the first non-stop balloon flight around the globe.
Later in 2016, he achieved another milestone in the history of aviation, completing the first global circumnavigation in a solar-powered electric aeroplane with his partner André Borschberg. This accomplishment demonstrated that it is possible to make aviation greener by using renewable energy to fuel the flight.
Piccard's innovative experiments continued, and in 2024 he started Climate Impulse with his friend and fellow explorer Raphaël Dinelli. This time, the goal is to build the first green hydrogen-powered aircraft to complete a non-stop tour of the world.
Bertrand Piccard joined My Wildest Prediction to talk about this adventure and share his visionary ideas.
Hydrogen for mobility
'I envisage the first commercial flight with passengers in a hydrogen-powered aeroplane by 2035,' Piccard told Euronews Business.
The Swiss aviator's forecast aims to show it is possible to find solutions to climate problems.
In 2023, aviation accounted for 2.5% of global energy-related CO2 emissions. Its emissions have been increasing at a faster rate than any other mode of transport.
Despite its negative impact on the environment, air transport is key to the European economy as it employs between 1.4-2 million people and contributes more than €110 billion to European GDP.
To solve this issue, Piccard advocates for hydrogen, a colourless, highly inflammable gas. Hydrogen exists as a natural product, sometimes created by solar processes or geochemical reactions. Depending on the components driving the reaction, different types of hydrogen can be created.
Piccard wants to focus on green hydrogen, which is carbon-free and produced from renewable energies.
'I want to use the purest and cleanest hydrogen...it's a new business that has to be made, a new industry, we need to create everything from scratch,' he said.
In 2023, global hydrogen demand reached 97m tonnes. However, consumption remains centred on refining and the chemical sectors, and the demand is almost entirely covered by hydrogen produced from fossil fuels.
Hydrogen for transportation is still being tested and developed, and its application continues to pose questions.
Yet, Piccard believes it's crucial to try and look at the problem from a different perspective.
'Each time people think of problems, they think it's difficult. If you say it's a challenge, people will say Wow that's interesting, ' the explorer said.
The aviator argued that innovators can show a project is possible, but then industries need to invest in it to increase adoption and decrease the price of the new technology.
We need the industries because they are the ones who are going to bring us solutions.
Bertrand Piccard
Explorer
The Climate Impulse project
The Climate Impulse project, unveiled in February 2024, aims to create the world's first green hydrogen-powered aeroplane designed for a non-stop, zero-emission circumnavigation of the globe.
The aircraft is currently being built in France, with Syesnqo as its main technological partner. Other key collaborators include the OCP Group in Morocco and the University Mohammed VI Polytechnic.
'We have to be very light and very stiff, but we also have to keep the hydrogen liquid at -253°C in thermal tanks. And this has never been done before,' Piccard explained.
So far, the engineers working on the project have succeeded in creating the fuel cell and the wings, but there's one remaining major obstacle.
'The challenge is to have the propulsion chain with the hydrogen cell, electric motors, all working together,' Piccard explained.
The flight is expected to take off in 2028 and last nine days.
But Bertrand Piccard already has more ideas for its next possible adventure.
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