ADSW Talks

Dr. Bertrand Piccard’s career as a global adventurer has helped demonstrate what is possible with renewable energy and clean technology. In this interview, he discusses his Solar Impulse project, the first round-the-world flight in a solar-powered airplane and his ongoing mission to promote clean energy and clean technology. “I remember flying across the ocean for several days at a time, with only the sun keeping my engines running,” Dr. Piccard says. “I thought I must be in the future, in a science fiction story. But it made me realize how much the world is actually living in the past.”

With this in mind, Dr. Piccard founded the Solar Impulse Foundation, which has identified over 1,000 technical solutions to help the world decarbonize. Now, his Climate Impulse project will fly a green-hydrogen-powered airplane non-stop around the world to show how green hydrogen can decarbonize aviation and other notoriously “hard-to-abate” industries. “Sustainability should not be a wish for the future but a practical action for the present. This is the greatest adventure of the 21 st century.”

“I can think of no other region in the world that is better suited to drive that adaptation and transition through the necessary innovation and flow of capital supporting that innovation, when it comes to addressing climate change,” Kapoor says.

He clarifies the term climate financing as the allocation of capital such that it delivers a prudent, inclusive energy transition and drives innovation in terms of new technologies, products and services – to help both consumers and corporates adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change and reduce their carbon footprints.

Climate financing, Kapoor says, is also capital that is necessary to commercially scale up these new solutions across the world, whether in the Global South or the developed West.

Investcorp’s goal is to reach net zero by 2050 in line with global commitments, but perhaps even more impactful is its support for the companies in its portfolio, to help them reduce their carbon emissions.

The global investment company is also establishing “a new platform to invest capital in companies that are solely devoted to establishing and scaling up decarbonization solutions for consumers and corporates worldwide,” Kapoor says.

Growth at all costs was once the mantra of corporations. Later, it was “inclusive” growth that leaves no one behind. Kapoor’s vision for the future goes a step further. Growth that is both inclusive and sustainable, he says, is the future not only of business, but of humanity and civilization at large. “So that not only do you not do any harm, you actually do good.”