By Peter Metzinger

Exactly ten years ago today, on 18 June 2015, I met Martin Bäumle – on a day that helped shape the future of Power-to-Fuel in Switzerland. On Bern’s Bundesplatz, Clean Fuel Now, which I had founded together with National Councillor Thomas Böhni and Olympic snowboard cross champion Tanja Frieden, demonstrated that synthetic fuels were already a reality. Clean Fuel Now‘s website is not active anymore, but you can still access a copy with a video of the event here.

At the event, then-Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann filled 5 litres of synthetic diesel — produced by Sunfire in Germany — into Böhni’s car. Researchers, Climeworks CO₂ experts, many members of Parliament, and strong media interest made the day a success.

This demonstration helped start a process: Today, the Swiss auto industry can reduce CO₂ emissions through both electric vehicles and eFuels — an outcome of the developments sparked back then.

Later, Martin, Prof. Andre Heel, then atmospheric scientist Julien Anet, then Cantonal Councillor Alex Gantner and I founded Airborn Fuels Switzerland AG, now conducting a feasibility study for an innovation platform for synthetic jet fuel together with the Canton of Aargau.

On this placemat, Martin Bäumle calculated during a joint lunch on 20 June how much synthetic kerosene could be financed by a flight ticket levy: 10% of kerosene consumption at Zurich Airport.

We also created SPIN — the Swiss Power-to-X Collaborative Innovation Network — connecting key players and advocating for policies to enable large-scale energy storage in fuels. SPIN has a strategic alliance with Swissmem whose director worked for Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann ten years ago and helped us organize the event.

Looking back, that day planted a seed for much of today’s progress — showing how small beginnings can drive real change.