Global Renewables Alliance and Green Hydrogen Organisation become Institutional Partners of Climate Impulse

Antalya, Türkiye – November 11th 2026, COP31- Climate Impulse welcomes today the Global Renewables Alliance (GRA) and the Green Hydrogen Organisation (GH2) as Institutional Partners. The project, led by Swiss explorer and cleantech pioneer Bertrand Piccard and navigator-composite engineer Raphaël Dinelli, aims to achieve the first non-stop, zero-emission flight around the world, aboard an electric airplane powered by green hydrogen. The partnerships were announced at COP31 where the Türkiye COP Presidency has made electrification and industrial decarbonisation implementation priorities.
 

Taking clean energy further

Ten years after Solar Impulse flew around the world on solar energy, Bertrand Piccard, along with Raphaël Dinelli, is preparing a new first: completing 40,000 kilometres in nine days, non-stop, with zero emissions. Joining forces with Climate Impulse, the GRA and GH2 send one clear message: transitioning away from fossil fuels is within reach, even in the most hard-to-abate sectors. 

At COP31, Climate Impulse sets out to embody the “Double Down, Triple Up” agenda, built on the COP28 goals of tripling renewable capacity and doubling energy efficiency by 2030, and the global “Electrify Now” initiative. The airplane will bring the three levers together: it will fly on renewable electricity, stored on board as green liquid hydrogen and converted back into electricity by fuel cells to drive its electric motors, with no combustion.

Flying nine days non-stop without refuelling will demand efficiency at every stage: every gram and every bit of drag count in the airplane’s design, its routing will be optimised, and its fuel cells are designed to perform well above the market average.

An alignment of convictions

For the GRA, which brings together the wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, green hydrogen and energy storage industries, the partnership is a natural fit: the airplane’s entire energy chain begins with renewable electricity. Without renewables, there is no green hydrogen, and without green hydrogen, no zero-emission flight. Climate Impulse sets out to demonstrate how far renewable energy can go: around the world, non-stop, in one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise. Bruce Douglas, CEO of the GRA, joins the project as one of its first Ambassadors.

"It is solar or wind energy that will fill Climate Impulse's tanks in the form of green hydrogen, where batteries would be too heavy to power electric motors during a non-stop, zero-emission flight around the world. Having the Global Renewables Alliance at our side matters: those who deploy clean energies globally have understood that we can also store them in the form of hydrogen. And if we can do it in the sky, nobody will say anymore that it is impossible to do the same on the ground" said Bertrand Piccard, Chairman, Co-Founder, and Pilot of Climate Impulse

“What this flight proves is not the impossible, but the inevitable: Renewables, efficiency and electrification are not three separate goals but one system, and Climate Impulse will make that visible to the world. The same formula for success is ready to deliver energy security and affordable power on the ground. We are honored to support a mission that sets out to demonstrate it in the most demanding conditions. Governments meeting in Antalya should match this momentum with the investable commitments needed to scale it”, said Bruce Douglas, CEO of the Global Renewables Alliance.

For GH2, itself a member of the GRA, whose mission is to accelerate the production and use of green hydrogen as a cornerstone of the energy transition, the partnership rests on the same conviction. While batteries work best for light transport, green hydrogen is essential for heavy applications like aviation, shipping, and steel. Scaling green hydrogen is critical to building the confidence, demand, and cost reductions needed to unlock long-term industrial competitiveness. By proving the viability of the technology in extreme conditions, Climate Impulse hopes to encourage more players to take the leap.

“Green hydrogen is essential to decarbonising the sectors that are hardest to abate, from shipping to steel and fertilisers, and the time to scale it up is now. Every project that puts green hydrogen to work, on land, at sea or in the air, helps build the confidence that investors and policymakers need. Climate Impulse is one of the boldest, and we are glad to be on board,” said Joe Williams, CEO of the Green Hydrogen Organisation.

A flagship for the energy transition, backed by a growing coalition

Designed to break with tradition and challenge the status quo, the zero-emission airplane embodies the pioneering spirit that enabled Solar Impulse to achieve what once seemed impossible. Climate Impulse aims to push past conventional boundaries, proving in extreme conditions what clean technology can deliver while inspiring the public and decision-makers to raise global climate ambitions.

Built with the support of aeronautical collaborators, it is also designed as a sky laboratory, testing technologies which could then be taken up in aviation, heavy transport, shipping and energy.

‘’Twenty years ago, solar energy was considered too expensive to matter. Today, it produces some of the cheapest electricity in the world. Green hydrogen can follow the same path, provided we dare to demonstrate its potential. That is the spirit we share with the Green Hydrogen Organisation’’ said Bertrand Piccard, Chairman, Co-Founder, and Pilot of Climate Impulse

The GRA and GH2 join a project placed under the official patronage of the European Commission, and is developed with main partners Syensqo, OCP Group and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) and official partners Breitling and Orange. Climate Impulse welcomes other organisations that share this ambition to join.