Can synthetic fuels ever be produced cheaply enough to compete with fossil alternatives? Florian Hildebrand, co-founder and CEO of Greenlyte Carbon Technologies, thinks the answer is yes — and that the industry has been solving the wrong problem.

In this interview, Hildebrand explains how Greenlyte's Liquid Solar platform uses cheap intermittent renewable energy as its organising principle, why the company has deliberately walked away from the carbon credit market, and how a tolling model built around existing industrial infrastructure could bridge the gap between small-scale pilots and meaningful fuel volumes.

We also discuss Greenlyte's strategic partnership with Rheinmetall, INERATEC and Sunfire under the GigaPtX initiative, the lessons the industry should draw from Climeworks' experience of premature scaling, and why Hildebrand believes 2040 is the realistic horizon for a substantial market shift in hard-to-abate sectors including aviation and shipping.

Greenlyte was founded in 2022 in Essen, in Germany's Ruhr industrial region, and has raised just over €55 million to date. Its first commercial eMethanol facility is planned for deployment by the end of 2026.

Climate Solutions News covers climate policy, technology and finance for professionals working on the energy transition. New interviews and analysis every week.

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