Companies sign up to avoid fuel tax

Switzerland produced on average 40 million tonnes of CO2 Keystone

More than 600 Swiss firms have formally pledged to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 2010.

They are likely to be exempted from a planned fuel tax after signing an agreement on Friday with the government.

The companies produce 2.4 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually – almost a quarter of all Swiss industry emissions.

They have pledged to take measures to cut CO2 emissions to 13.1 per cent below 1990 levels.

Many of the firms are involved in the chemical, paper and steel-making industries, and the onus will be on reducing energy use and improving the efficiency of their machinery.

Some Swiss enterprises have already made great strides in reducing emissions. Engineering giant ABB says it has already cut CO2 emissions by 40 per cent since 1990.

Inevitable tax?

The introduction of a tax on greenhouse gas emissions in Switzerland appears inevitable.

Last week the environment agency announced that the country would not achieve its target of cutting CO2 emissions to ten per cent below 1990 levels by 2010.

Switzerland’s CO2 law states that a fuel tax must be introduced this year at the earliest if other measures have failed to significantly reduce emissions.

Carbon dioxide accounts for roughly 80 per cent of all greenhouse gases.

Two options

Two options are being considered: a tax on heating and motor fuels; or a tax on heating fuels and the introduction of a one-centime levy on petrol and diesel.

Environment minister Moritz Leuenberger said on Friday that he favoured the second option.

Firms have a clear interest in avoiding a CO2 tax. A provisional top rate, set at SFr210 ($160) a ton, is already written into the CO2 law.

Some companies insist they don’t need any convincing. “Becoming more energy efficient is worth the effort,” said Heinz Boller, head of Novartis Switzerland.

swissinfo with agencies

Key facts

Switzerland produces over 50 million tons of greenhouse gases annually.
Eighty per cent of this is made up of carbon dioxide.
Swiss industry produces one quarter of the total.
Swiss law demands that CO2 emissions be cut by 15 per cent for heating fuels and eight per cent for petrol and diesel.

In brief

Six hundred Swiss firms have officially pledged to cut carbon dioxide emissions by over ten per cent.

These voluntary measures mean these companies should not have to pay a planned fuel tax.

The fuel tax is being considered because Switzerland is still far from reaching targets set out when it signed the Kyoto Protocol and which are part and parcel of its law on CO2 emissions.