A bill aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050 should be adopted this Sunday by the Swiss. If the country’s leading party has asked for no, the latest polls published at the beginning of June vote in favor of this compromise project.
The gfs.bern institute survey yielded 63% favorable opinions and that of the Tamedia press group 56% yes.
Switzerland particularly affected by global warming
The radical right UDC – and the country’s main party – led a harrowing campaign on the fear of a shivering Switzerland without electricity, which quite clearly melted the yes advance. All other major parties and the federal government are calling for a yes vote.
The bill provides for a gradual reduction in the consumption of oil and natural gas without, however, prohibiting it. At the same time, Switzerland will have to produce more renewable energy, 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 tricky, in a country that depends 75% on imports for its needs, particularly oil and gas.
A fragility dramatically revealed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The “Federal Law on Climate Protection, Innovation and Strengthening Energy Security Objectives” aims to reduce this foreign energy dependence while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, without prohibitions or new taxes.
This text is, in fact, a counter-project to a popular initiative, known as the “glacier initiative” that climate activists had presented in 2019. It sought to ban the consumption of fossil fuels from 2050. The government and Parliament considered that this it was too radical and preferred to favor incentives, including financial ones, to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels as much as possible, without prohibiting them.
His 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 out of the air, will also benefit from the support.
The UDC assures that the project, which it describes as an “electric waste law”, will continue to entail the prohibition of fuel oil, gas, diesel and gasoline as sources of energy, which will endanger energy security and will cause shoot the household electricity bill. This is not the first time that the SVP has opposed climate laws. In 2021, the party narrowly failed in a project to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Swiss are also called to vote on Sunday a constitutional amendment aimed at implementing the project of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the G20 on taxes, at a rate of at least 15%, the large business groups assets. internationally.
The latest survey indicates that 73% of Swiss voters support this minimum tax plan, which will apply to business groups with an annual turnover of at least 750 million euros. Until now, most of Switzerland’s 26 cantons applied low business taxes 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.
Source: BFM TV
