84 “The ecological transition has to be profitable or it won’t happen at all” “Let’s be realistic: the ecological transition has to be profitable or it won’t happen at all. From our point of view, it’s the best way to make it attractive to this world’s decision makers, who think in terms of job creation and industrial profit. The consumer’s point of view also counts. When you insulate your house to reduce your heating bills, you pay off your investment in a few years. It perhaps takes a bit more timewith non-pollutant materials, which are a bit more expensive, but equally you will obtain a benefit. It’s the combination of economic and ecological criteria that creates a smart solution. Between ideas that are fantastic ecologically but unattainable and low-cost but ecologically harmful ideas, there is a broad scope of possibilities. This is the space where it’s effective to position yourself and where our labeled solutions are found. Taking the demands of profitability into account provides an answer to the question so often raised against the ecological transition: how are we going to pay for all this? Well, just like any investment that meets needs by generating a profitable return that will pay it off. It is a basic of economics, which distinguishes between investment and expenditure.” BERTRAND PICCARD, Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation DISCOVER the full interview with Bertrand Piccard in Constructing a sustainable future PoINT OF VIeW
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