Achieving carbon neutrality in 2050, yes or no? The Swiss voted overwhelmingly in favor of the law on Sunday, according to initial estimates from the gfs.bern research institute.
The yes wins at 58.7% for this referendum, while the vote in favor of the introduction of a 15% tax on large companies internationally reaches almost 79.4%, according to group projections. Tamedia press release.
The radical right UDC, and the country’s leading party, had however carried out an anxiety-provoking campaign on the fear of a Switzerland without electricity shivering with cold. All the other major parties and the federal government had called for a yes vote.
The bill plans to gradually reduce the consumption of oil and natural gas without, however, prohibiting it. At the same time, Switzerland will have to produce more renewable energies, such as hydropower and photovoltaics, and support more climate-friendly heating systems, such as heat pumps.
Switzerland and its mountain ecosystem are particularly affected by climate change. The situation of Swiss glaciers is dramatic and they are doomed to disappear, according to specialists.
The energy issue is a tricky one, in a country that depends 75% on imports for its needs, especially oil and gas. A fragility brought to light in a dramatic way by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
The “Federal Act on Climate Protection Goals, Innovation and Strengthening Energy Security” aims to reduce this foreign energy dependence while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, without prohibition or new taxes.
This text is in fact a counter-project to a popular initiative, known as the “glacier initiative” that climate activists had tabled in 2019. It planned to ban the consumption of fossil fuels from 2050.
The government and Parliament felt that this was radical and preferred to favor incentives, including financial ones, to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels as much as possible, without banning them.
Their plan provides up to 200 million francs (about the same amount in euros) every year for ten years to help homeowners switch to climate-friendly heating systems. Industries that invest in innovative technologies, for example capable of filtering CO2 from the air, will also benefit from support.
The UDC assures that the project, which it describes as “law on the waste of electricity”, will nevertheless result in a ban on oil, gas, diesel and gasoline as energy sources, which will jeopardize energy security and cause household electricity bills to skyrocket.
This is not the first time that the SVP has opposed climate laws. In 2021, the party had narrowly failed a project to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Swiss also voted 79.4% in favor on Sunday of the introduction of a 15% tax on large international companies.
Until now, most of Switzerland’s 26 cantons taxed businesses low, in order to remain competitive despite high labor costs.
The number of Swiss groups directly affected by the OECD and G20 reform project in Switzerland is estimated at a few hundred by the Federal Tax Administration, which estimates that the revenue from the additional tax will be between 1 and 2.5 billion francs the first year.