The French explorer Jean-Louis Etienne will be speaking at the Hydrogen Business for Climate Forum in Belfort on 3 October. He will be talking about his Polar Pod project: an expedition to the South Pole worthy of Jules Verne. He will also mention the link with hydrogen.

After Mike Horn in 2021 (who has since co-founded Inocel, a company that produces high-power fuel cells in Belfort) and the economist Navi Radjou last year, Jean-Louis Etienne will play the role of keynote speaker at Belfort. He will be speaking at the forum organised by the Cluster Pôle Véhicule du Futur. It’s a prestigious guest who will no doubt generate even more interest in this event, whose content is already shaping up to be particularly riveting.

A tireless defender of the planet, this Frenchman was the first man to reach the North Pole solo in 1986. He also made the first complete crossing of the Antarctic in 1989-90. The aim of his many educational and scientific expeditions is to raise awareness of the polar regions and understand the role they play in life and on the Earth’s climate.

Jean Louis Etienne knows knows hydrogen and fuel cells quite well

And what does this have to do with hydrogen? As part of a partnership with Air Liquide, Jean-Louis Etienne has used fuel cells and hydrogen to produce clean, silent electricity. This equipment was used as part of the Banquise Mission (2002) and the Clipperton Expedition (2004). For the ‘Connaissance des Energies‘ website, he wrote an article (in French) in 2017. It was a forward-looking vision of the role that hydrogen could play in transport in 2050.

A crazy project to explore the Southern Ocean

For his next project, called Polar Pod*, the explorer has chosen batteries. But he is also looking at hydrogen.

Scheduled for 2025, this project will enable the acquisition of long-term data and observations that will be transmitted to researchers, oceanographers, climatologists and biologists. No fewer than 43 scientific institutions from 12 countries are involved in the Polar Pod project.

*a 100 m high vessel capable of withstanding the world’s highest waves

Article written by Laurent Meillaud and translated by Logan King