Patrick ten Brink is the Secretary General of the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), the network of environmental citizens’ organisations consisting of over 180 member organisations in 40 countries, including a growing number of networks, and representing some 30 million individual members and supporters.  Patrick is particularly active on EEB’s work on the European Green Deal and EU Council Presidency engagement, and Better Regulation. Patrick represents the EEB and its member organisations vis-à-vis the EU institutions and in other relevant fora, including the Roundtable on clean hydrogen for residential applications in the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance, the Fit for Future Platform, Zero Pollution Stakeholder Platform, the Industrial Forum, the Chemicals Sustainability roundtable and the EU Biodiversity Platform.  Before joining the EEB, Patrick was the Director of IEEP-Brussels and head of its Green Economy Programme.  He has a master’s degree in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics and a Joint honours Physics and Philosophy degree. 

Chief Executive Officer, Hy24 

Co-founder & Chairman, FiveT Hydrogen 

Pierre-Etienne Franc is considered as one of the leading architects of the hydrogen economy. He served as Chair of Hydrogen Europe (2011- 2016) and then co-founded and coordinated the World Hydrogen Council as secretary from 2017-2020. Within Air Liquide, after several global business, strategy and operational management positions, he led over the last ten years the advanced technology companies, venture capital and Hydrogen energy activities for the Group. In 2021, he co-founded the FiveT Hydrogen investment platform and created with Ardian a 50/50 regulated Asset Manager, Hy24. Hy24 currently manages the world’s largest clean hydrogen infrastructure fund, which is today up and running with 2 billion euros of allocations. The fund ambitions to invest on the whole clean hydrogen value chain, deploying large scale projects in the most dynamic geographies in Europe, Asia and America. Pierre Etienne is the CEO of Hy24. 

Since the beginning of his career, Franc has built a development approach driven by a belief in the power of alliances, joint ventures, and co-development. It has helped to open new businesses (co-generation), new territories (Russia, China, Brazil in the steel markets), new markets (hydrogen energy, IT), and new technologies (electrolysis, hydrogen tanks, fuel cells in forklifts). 

In 1994, he wrote his first book, with Christopher Hogg focusing on the importance of customer management, which was published by Dunod. During the COP21 held in Paris in 2015, Franc published a book that detailed his vision for the hydrogen economy, with a preface by Pascal Lamy. His 2017 “Entreprise et bien commun” is a reflection on the role of business in improving society, with a preface by Gaël Giraud. 

Franc graduated in 1993 from France’s HEC business school, where he was awarded the HEC Foundation Prize and the second prize of the Ernst & Young Foundation for his final thesis on industrial joint ventures. 

Directeur général de Hy24 

Co-fondateur et Président de FiveT Hydrogen 

Pierre-Etienne Franc est depuis avril 2021, le co-fondateur et Président de la société FiveT Hydrogen, et depuis novembre 2021, le Directeur Général de Hy24, gestionnaire indépendant né d’une initiative commune entre les sociétés FiveT Hydrogen et Ardian. Hy24 gère actuellement le plus grand fonds d'infrastructure d'hydrogène décarboné au monde, un fonds clôturé à 2 milliards d'euros d'allocations en octobre 2022. Le fonds a pour ambition d'investir sur l'ensemble de la chaîne de valeur de l'hydrogène décarboné, en déployant des projets à grande échelle dans les zones géographiques les plus dynamiques d'Europe, d'Asie et d'Amérique.  

Pierre-Etienne a passé 25 ans dans le groupe Air Liquide où il a créé et dirigé la Business Unit Mondiale Hydrogène Energie qui avait pour vocation de construire et développer le marché de l’hydrogène au service de la transition énergétique.  Depuis le début de sa carrière, Pierre-Etienne est convaincu du pouvoir des alliances, des joint-ventures et du co-développement. Une approche de l’écosystème et du développement qui lui a permis de déployer le groupe Air Liquide sur de nouveaux métiers (cogénération), de nouveaux territoires (Russie, Chine, Brésil sur les marchés de l'acier), de nouveaux marchés (hydrogène énergie, informatique), de nouvelles technologies (électrolyse, réservoirs d'hydrogène, piles à combustible dans les chariots élévateurs).

Pierre-Etienne est impliqué depuis plus de 10 ans le développement des métiers de l’hydrogène et de la pile à combustible. Il a présidé durant 6 ans la plateforme technologique conjointe, structure Européenne co-pilotée par les industriels du secteur et la Commission Européenne, et qui finance le secteur (1 milliard d’€). En janvier 2017, il a co-fondé le Conseil mondial de l’Hydrogène et coordonné le groupe en tant que Secrétaire Général. Aujourd’hui le Conseil fédère près de 150 sociétés implantées dans le monde entier.  

Pierre-Etienne est diplômé d’HEC, où il a reçu le prix de la Fondation HEC et le deuxième prix de la Fondation Ernst & Young pour son mémoire de fin d'études sur les joint-ventures industrielles. Il a par ailleurs publié trois livres, « Le Management du Client », Eyrolles, en 1994, avec M. Christopher Hogg, « Hydrogène, la transition énergétique en marche », aux éditions Manifesto / Gallimard, paru lors de la COP21 qui se tenait à Paris en 2015, avec la collaboration de M. Pascal Mateo. Et « Entreprise et Bien commun, la performance et la vertu », avec Michel Calef, aux Editions du Palio – novembre 2017.   

Born in Rome in 1972, he graduated in Economics at the L.U.I.S.S. University in Rome. He is a Chartered Accountant and has been a registered EU auditor since 1995. In 2003, he attended the Executive Education Programme in General Management at INSEAD in Fontainbleu, Paris.

He is a member of the Advisory Board of the L.U.I.S.S. University in Rome and Adjunct Professor in Management of Circular Economy within the Law, Digital, Innovation and Sustainability department.

A firm believer in an open innovation approach and osmosis between sectors, he is involved in start-up analyses and selection programmes, with a strong focus on the development of innovative ideas, new business models and the promotion of young talent.

On May 16, 2022 he has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Fincantieri SpA and on June 30, 2022 the BoD has appointed him as Managing Director .