Environmental protection: new partnership with the World Alliance for Efficient Solutions

On Thursday 3 October 2018, within the framework of its environmental research activities, the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) signed a partnership agreement with the World Alliance, chaired by Bertrand Piccard, and the Department of the Environment of the Luxembourg Ministry of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure.

Luxembourg joins Bertrand Piccard's Alliance

Following the success of the first round-the-world trip in a solar-powered plane, the Solar Impulse Foundation tackled a new challenge: selecting 1,000 clean, efficient, profitable solutions, and presenting them to decision-makers, in order to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable, carbon-neutral economy. By creating the World Alliance for Efficient Solutions, Bertrand Piccard, Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation, aims to develop an entire ecosystem based on clean technologies in order to promote existing solutions and accelerate their implementation.

The Department of the Environment of the Luxembourg Ministry of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) have signed an agreement with the World Alliance to contribute to this commitment towards environmental protection and clean, sustainable economic development. This agreement underscores the country's desire to position itself as a major player in eco-innovation.


Luxembourg is making an active contribution and is positioned as a leading player


This tripartite partnership aims to accelerate, firstly, the evaluation of the solutions submitted to the Solar Impulse Foundation thanks to the network of clean technology experts at LIST, and, secondly, the deployment of these solutions through the implementation of the bold environmental policy launched by the Luxembourg government.

This partnership will consequently help to contribute towards the selection of 1,000 solutions by the Solar Impulse Foundation, which represents a major step towards achieving its ultimate goal: presentation of the solutions to governments and policy-makers to facilitate their implementation on a global scale. Through its partnership with the Alliance, Luxembourg is positioned globally as a key player in the development of green technologies.

A look back at the meeting between Bertrand Piccard and LIST

In September 2017, LIST hosted the international "Life Cycle Management" conference. Held every two years, this event focuses on the design of sustainable technologies, products and policies. LCM2017 brought to the fore many distinguished speakers, such as Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard who delivered an inaugural keynote address at the event, during which he was able to convey his optimism and faith in a more environmentally-friendly future. The truly inspiring speech was followed by discussions with LIST representatives, and political and economic leaders.

Lucien Hoffmann, Director of LIST's Environmental Research and Innovation (ERIN) department states that "This partnership with the Solar Impulse Foundation is one of the components of the implementation of the ERIN department's strategy, which is to develop innovative green technologies to reduce the impact human production and consumption activities have on the environment, while ensuring that these new approaches meet sustainability criteria by measuring the impact they have on the environment." 

> Find the Luxembourg Department of the Environment's full press release (in French) on gouvernement.lu.