Bernese voters accept counter-proposal to solar initiative
Bernese voters say yes to counter-proposal to solar initiative
Keystone-SDA
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Bernese voters accept counter-proposal to solar initiative
In the Swiss canton of Bern, there will still be no solar obligation for roof renovations in the future, but there will be one for large car parks. Voters approved the counter-proposal to the solar initiative with 66.6%; the initiative was rejected.
This content was published on
3 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Deutsch
de
Berner Stimmvolk sagt Ja zu Gegenvorschlag zur Solarinitiative
Original
In total 181,787 voters voted in favour of the counter-proposal, while 91,218 rejected it. The turnout was 37.4%, canton Bern said on Sunday.
The initiative was rejected by 72% of voters.
The initiative submitted by the Green Party in 2021 called for all new and existing buildings in the canton to be equipped with a solar system if the roof or façade surfaces are suitable and the installation is reasonable. A transitional period until 2040 would have applied to existing buildings.
This went too far for the cantonal parliament, which drew up a counter-proposal. This only included a solar obligation for roofs on new buildings, but not for façades. It stipulated that, in the case of renovations, property owners would simply have to declare whether roof surfaces were suitable for the use of solar energy. In addition, the counter-proposal now adopted by the electorate includes a solar obligation for larger public parking spaces.
The Greens, the Social Democrats, the Protestant Party, the Green Liberal Party, environmental and nature conservation organisations such as the WWF and Greenpeace, the Swiss Traffic Association, the Swiss Energy Foundation, Swissolar, the Small Farmers Association and the Travailsuisse employees’ association had spoken out in favour of the initiative.
The counter-proposal was supported by the Centre Party, the Swiss People’s Party, the Radical-Liberal Party, the Federal Democratic Union, the Bernese business associations, the homeowners’ association, the farmers’ association and the Bernese electricity association.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Swiss army identifies gaps in civil aircraft collision warning system
This content was published on
The Cyber-Defence Campus of the Swiss defence ministry has found two vulnerabilities in the collision warning system for civil aviation.
Swiss parents rely on savings accounts for their children instead of investment funds
This content was published on
According to the survey, over 60% of parents start saving in the first year of life, and around 10% even before the child is born.
Half the Swiss army’s M113 armoured vehicles rehabilitated
This content was published on
Half of the Swiss army's 248 M113 grenadier armoured vehicles are back on the road after being temporarily decommisioned.
Voters in Zurich reject pay rise for local politicians
This content was published on
Local parliamentarians in Zurich will not receive a pay hike after 53.2% of voters in the city came out against the plan on Sunday.
Minimum wage narrowly rejected in canton Basel Country
This content was published on
The Unia trade union initiative had called for a minimum wage of CHF22 ($24.20) per hour for all employees working in the canton.
This content was published on
Two-thirds of Swiss people feel that cohesion in the country is “rather weak”, according to a study. Some 83% of respondents even felt that the sense of community was declining.
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.