Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Canton Basel City approves ‘ambitious’ climate goal

smoke
Switzerland is debating by when to be climate neutral © Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Voters in Basel City have backed a strict climate target for the canton – to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2037.

They had to decide whether to support the Green party-driven “climate justice initiative”, which set the net zero goal for 2030, or a counterproposal from the cantonal parliament, which aimed for 2037. In the end, just over 64% of voters came out in favour of the counterproposal, results on Sunday showed.

By accepting the counterproposal, the canton of Basel City is taking on a clear pioneering role in climate policy throughout Switzerland, writes Keystone-SDA.

It is the first canton or Swiss city to set the net zero goal for 2037. The city of Zurich has for example opted for 2040.

On a national level, Switzerland is aiming to be climate neutral by 2050 – which means the country should not emit more greenhouse gases than can be absorbed naturally or by technical means by that date. 

More

Most Read
Swiss Abroad

Most Discussed

News

Switzerland gets a new tectonic map

More

Switzerland gets a new tectonic map

This content was published on Switzerland has a new tectonic map at a scale of 1:500,000, containing updates to geometry, distribution and nomenclature of the tectonic units.

Read more: Switzerland gets a new tectonic map

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR