Heidi Sevestre, the woman who gives voice to the glaciers
Bertrand Cozzarolo
Director of Societe Generale Private Banking
An inspiring message
Heïdi Sevestre is a young glaciologist with a voice that inspires. Committed, enthusiastic and accessible, she travels the world talking about glaciers, those frozen giants with feet of clay, whose preservation is essential to the balance of our planet. Heïdi Sevestre works at AMAP (Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program) part of the Arctic Council. She lives part of the year on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, where she divides her time between field research and scientific communication. Her career has already been rewarded with several prizes: the Shackleton medal for the protection of the polar regions in 2022, and the French Outreach prize in the environment category in 2023. In 2024, she was designated European Young Leader by Friends of Europe. I had the pleasure of attending a speech by Heïdi Sevestre and I wanted to welcome her to the pages of our magazine because her approach echoes the values of our bank in terms of responsible environmental commitment. I hope that her portrait and testimony will inspire you.
An accomplished glaciologist and determined explorer, Heïdi Sevestre uses her scientific knowledge and her public profile to explain to as many people as possible the issues surrounding global warming and melting polar ice. Portrait of an extraordinary personality who is as enthusiastic as she is inspiring.
Passionate about nature and mountains since her childhood, spent in the heart of the Annecy mountains (in the French Alps), Heïdi Sevestre decided to become a glaciologist at 17. Since then, this doctor in glaciology has led scientific expeditions to the polar and high mountain regions. “I consider myself a glacier doctor,” she explains. They are our patients and we try to make them talk through science and measuring instruments because they are the best barometers for helping us understand the current state of the climate. We are intermediaries, in a way, between the glaciers and the human population.”
We will be called to account in 10, 20 or 30 years for the decisions we make today. Education is the key to avoiding the worst.
The melting of Greenland would represent a rise in ocean levels of 6 to 7 metres and that of Antarctica by 58 metres.
Look further
Heïdi Sevestre is the author of Climate Sentinel, published by Harper Collins France, and Tomorrow is us, published by Faubourg. She presents scientific documentaries for television and writes a column for every Thursday at 7:56 a.m. on France Culture.
... Fragile giants
Heïdi Sevestre’s verdict is clear: the glaciers’ state of health is very worrying. “With the improvement of our scientific knowledge, we are becoming increasingly aware of the extent of the deterioration of glaciers, polar ice caps, sea ice and permafrost, she emphasises. We have released so much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere that almost half of the glaciers on Earth are already doomed. And this will impact the vast majority of the population, particularly the most vulnerable. Exceeding certain temperature thresholds will have irreversible consequences on the large ice sheets. It is already too late for West Antarctica, while a global temperature rise of 1.5 to 2°C could create an irreversible disintegration of Greenland. The future of the remaining half of the glaciers is in our hands.” Because glaciers are our best water reservoirs, supplying nearly two billion people with fresh water to irrigate crops, produce energy or cool nuclear power plants. They also play a climate stabilising role while the possible disappearance of the Arctic sea ice could lead to an increase in extreme weather events all over the world, even in France. That’s not all: if the polar ice caps of Greenland and Antarctica disappear, ocean levels will rise considerably, with dramatic consequences such as the displacement of hundreds of millions of people or the erosion of agricultural land.
Exploration of an ice cave in Svalbard (Norway).
During the Arctic Ascent with Alex Honnold expedition to Greenland, climbing the Pool Wall and collecting rock samples.
In 2021, the Climate Sentinels expedition brought together six women scientists in Svalbard. (Norway)
During this 5-week carbonneutral expedition, scientists collected snow samples to study the impact of air pollution on the snow of Svalbard (Norway).
Education encourages action
Heïdi Sevestre doesn’t just explore glaciers. As soon as she returns from an expedition, she meets elected officials, businesses, schools and universities to talk about her work and climate change. Very charismatic, the researcher knows how to find the right words to convince everyone to act to slow down the climate machine. This is all the more remarkable since she is already very busy between her research, the quest for funding, and administrative tasks. “We researchers, have little time available for scientific communication, but it is a priority for me,” emphasises Heïdi. Publication in scientific journals is not enough to inform the general public. We need to make this scientific knowledge accessible and impactful to meet the dire need for climate education. We need to reach out to the general public, elected officials and businesses to disseminate this information in the most concrete way possible. I really like this sentence from Baba Dioum, a Senegalese engineer: ‘We only protect what we love, we love what we understand, we understand what we have been taught.’” For Heïdi, hope is still there, provided that we continue the educational effort and move forward collectively on the subject, in constant dialogue and cooperation between the private sector, public authorities, citizens and scientists.
Financed in the service of environmental protection
Collective initiatives mark the intention of financial actors to cooperate and commit through their investment policy towards a more resilient, carbon-free economy.
Societe Generale Private Banking and its management companies (SG 29 Haussmann in France and Societe Generale Private Wealth Management in Luxembourg) are signatories of the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative and the Finance For Biodiversity Pledge.
The Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative brings together 300 signatory management companies which are committed, within the framework of the Paris Agreements, to limiting global warming to 1.5°C. Concretely, this involves decarbonising their portfolios by 50% by 2030. To do this, management companies enter into dialogue with the companies in which they invest to understand their climate objectives and their transition plan.
The Finance for Biodiversity Pledge, signed by 126 financial players, is based on compliance with the COP15 commitment. For Societe Generale Private Banking, this involves publishing an action plan by 2025, based on the assessment of its impact on biodiversity, objectives accompanied by the means implemented to achieve them.
Consult the responsible investment plan of Societe Generale Private Banking Being a responsible private bank, available on www.privatebanking.societegenerale.com
Text
Stéphanie Livingstone-Wallace
A freelance designer-editor for more than 15 years,
Stéphanie Livingstone-Wallace writes for multiple communications media,
focussing on the energy transition, transport and logistics, education and finance and health.
© Helly Hansen / Ragnhild Utne; Portrait: Yoann Stoeckel for PB magazine
© Heïdi Sevestre; National Geographic / JJ Kelley
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