Most climate tech founders obsess over their technology and their fundraising. Few think hard enough about the law — until it's too late.

In this episode, CSN publisher Dominic Shales speaks with Mitesh Jagatia, founder of Eco Ventures Counsel, the UK initiative connecting early-stage climate startups with free, full-service legal support. Confirmed participating firms include Ashurst, BCLP, Dentons, Gowling WLG, Kirkland & Ellis, Linklaters, and Squire Patton Boggs, alongside Stephenson Harwood and others, giving startups access to advisers who routinely act for the world’s largest financial institutions and corporations. The IP firms Appleyard Lees and Keltie are also among the partners.

Mitesh spent sixteen years as a senior in-house lawyer at Sky, Bloomberg and Moody's before leaving to build something he believed in more. He explains why legal infrastructure can determine whether a promising climate technology ever reaches the market, how his pro bono model works in practice, and why the value of what his cohort companies receive — often hundreds of thousands of pounds of expert advice — is one of the most overlooked advantages in the UK climate tech ecosystem.

He also shares his candid view on using AI for legal advice, the specific pitfalls facing university spinouts, and his plans to expand Eco Ventures Counsel into Europe in 2027.

Applications for cohort four are open now at ecoventurescounsel.com.

The full Climate Solutions News article is at https://climatesolutions.news/spotlight/legal-support-is-crucial-but-often-ignored-by-climate-startups

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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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In this episode of Climate Solutions News, Dominic Shales speaks with Brittany Harris, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of QFlow, about why construction projects often fail to deliver the carbon and cost savings set out at design stage, and how better data can close that gap.

Construction and the wider built environment account for close to 40 percent of global carbon emissions, yet many projects still rely on paper tickets, estimates and fragmented reporting. Harris explains how capturing verified materials and waste data directly from construction sites can prevent rework, reduce embodied carbon and improve financial performance. Drawing on her background as a civil engineer, she describes how seemingly minor material substitutions can trigger delays, cost overruns and avoidable emissions.

The discussion examines whether these failures stem from mistakes, broken information flows or structural incentives within the construction supply chain, and why technology works best as an early warning system rather than an automated decision-maker. Harris also discusses the impact of regulation, including sustainability reporting and building safety requirements, and how different regions are responding to similar data challenges through the lenses of carbon, cost, resilience and quality.

The episode focuses on execution rather than ambition, and on how making construction data visible and verifiable is becoming central to delivering both climate and commercial outcomes.

Keywords

construction, carbon emissions, sustainability, data technology, Qflow, rework, regulatory pressures, construction industry, Brittany Harris, environmental impact

Takeaways

The built environment is responsible for nearly 40% of carbon emissions.

Embodied carbon from construction materials accounts for about 11% of emissions.

Qflow aims to make construction more transparent and efficient.

Sound Bites

"We founded Qflow to make construction sustainable."

"Data visibility can prevent construction delays."

"30% of rework is due to materials mismanagement."

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