Swiss approve net-zero climate law

Shrinking glaciers, less snow, heavy rains and drought – Switzerland is particularly vulnerable to the climate crisis. © Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller

Swiss voters have backed a new law that seeks to accelerate the country’s shift from fossil fuels to renewable energies and reach zero emissions by 2050.

In all, 59.1% of voters approved the government’s new climate and innovation lawExternal link on Sunday, according to the final results. The turnout was around 42%.

The government and all major parties, except for the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, had called to vote in favour of the bill.

The climate vote comes two years after the government’s centrepiece legislative proposal – the CO2 Law – was narrowly rejected in a nationwide ballot.

Sunday’s results highlighted regional voting differences between French-speaking and most large German-speaking cantons, which supported the new law, and smaller German-speaking cantons in central and eastern Switzerland, where it was rejected.

Almost three-quarters (74%) of voters in canton Geneva backed the law. There were also high scores in cantons Neuchâtel (70%), Vaud (69%), Jura (63%), Fribourg (62%) and Valais (55%).

Voters in the German-speaking cantons of Basel City (73%), Zurich (62%) Lucerne (59%), Bern (58%), Zug (57%) and Graubünden (55%) voiced large support. But cantons Uri (57%), Obwalden (56%), Glarus (54%), Appenzell Inner Rhodes (53%) and Nidwalden (53%) all rejected the law.

Multi-pronged climate law

The new climate and innovation lawExternal link, approved by parliament in September 2022, aims to kill several birds with one stone: it sets out CO2 emissions milestones to ensure Switzerland meets its international climate commitments and seeks a gradual reduction of imported fossil fuels in favour of Swiss-made renewables to improve energy security.

The law was drawn up as an indirect counterproposal to the so-called Glacier Initiative, and incorporates the main objective of the initiative – namely, for Switzerland to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

But the text uses a carrot-not-stick approach: no taxes or compulsory action but instead financial support – CHF3.2 billion ($3.2 billion) over ten years – for homeowners to replace electric, gas or oil heating systems with more climate-friendly systems like heat pumps. Businesses will also be incentivised to invest in green technologies.

The new law was supported by a broad alliance, including most political parties, the government, the cantons, cities and municipalities. And unlike for the failed CO2 vote in 2021, this time most of the business community and lobby groups like the Swiss business federation (economiesuisse) and environmental groups were behind it.

Reactions

Reacting to Sunday’s vote, Céline Vara, a Green Party parliamentarian, said she was delighted with the result.

The Swiss people listened to the advice of experts and not the “lies” distributed in people’s letter boxes by opponents, she told Swiss public television, RTS.

“The Swiss understood that the climate law is essential to take a first step and inscribe in Swiss law a clear objective for 2050. When you have a clear objective, you can then put in place the necessary measures,” she declared.

Centre-left Social Democrat parliamentarian Roger Nordmann said the result was historic and “beyond all expectation”.

“It’s the first time that citizens have approve a net-zero law in a historic vote,” he said.

The key lesson was that financial support and investment work much better than taxes and obligations, he added.

Environmental groups Greenpeace and WWF called for the full scope of the new climate law to be rapidly implemented.

“The result shows that the Swiss people are more than ever willing to take responsibility for improving climate protection,” said WWF. It also gives the Senate a clear mandate to tackle the revision of the CO2 Act in the autumn session, it added.

Main opponent

The law had been opposed by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, which successfully launched a referendum to try to overturn it.

The People’s Party had described the new law as an “electricity guzzler” which was harmful to the economy and the population. It said the extreme legislation would effectively mean banning petrol, diesel, heating oil and gas, which represent 60% of energy consumed in Switzerland.

Adding thousands of wind turbines and millions of square metres of solar panels would also disfigure the Swiss landscape, opponents argued. The transition would cause electricity demand to “explode”, and household bills would spiral – this amid an energy crisis where Switzerland is unable to generate enough homegrown power, they stated.

Michael Graber, a People’s Party parliamentarian, said Sunday’s result was “regrettable”. He warned electricity would now become much more expensive in Switzerland. Some rural regions voted “no” because they will be the ones to suffer from reduced mobility and a landscape damaged by new renewable constructions, he went on.

Vulnerable to climate crisis

Shrinking glaciers, less snow, heavy rains and drought – Switzerland is particularly vulnerable to the climate crisis. The average temperature has already risen by 2.5°C over the past 150 years, double the global average. Yet national policies have been deemed “insufficient” by the Climate Action Tracker (CAT), an independent group that analyses countries’ climate policies.

At the same time the small Alpine country imports almost 75% of its energy, mostly crude oil, gas and coal.

Work will now begin on implementing the new law. Beyond financial support, the new law defines intermediate CO2 emissions goals to attain carbon neutrality by 2050. By 2040, Switzerland must reduce emissions by 75% compared to 1990 levels. Indicative CO2 targets are also set for the construction, transport and industrial sectors. The remaining emissions will have to be offset.

The federal and cantonal authorities, for their part, must set an example and achieve net-zero emissions by 2040. Specific objectives are also in place to ensure the Swiss financial sector contributes to the transition and for financial flows to become more climate friendly.

Now that the law has passed, specific measures to achieve the wider goals must be defined in separate laws, such as future revisions of the existing CO2 law. This approach will allow technical advances to be considered, according to the government.