In this week’s podcast Guillaume le Grand, founder and CEO of TransOceanic Wind Transport (TOWT), discusses how the French company is looking backwards to move forwards on the decarbonisation of shipping by building sailing cargo ships to carry goods across the world’s oceans.

Earlier this year, the company contracted shipbuilder Piriou to build its first of its 80-metre Phoenix Class vessels. Scheduled to enter service in mid-2023, the ship will have capacity for up to 1,100 tonnes of cargo.

Guillaume graduated from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (IEP) in Lyon in 2005 and then spent four years in London at Bloomberg, where he helped create the Carbon Desk. After achieving a Masters in Sustainability, Environment and Energy Economics from EHESS AgroParisTech X in 2010, he has dedicated himself to TOWT to launch an ecological transition in maritime transport. He oversees strategy and business development, finance, shipping and logistics.