2023-06-18 02:17:00
The Swiss are expected to adopt a bill on Sunday aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050, even though it is too late to save their glaciers and the country’s first party has called for a vote no.
The latest polls published in early June give the vote in favor of this draft compromise.
The survey by the gfs.bern institute showed 63% favorable opinions and that of the press group Tamedia 56% yes.
The radical right UDC – and the country’s leading party – led an anxiety-provoking campaign on the fear of a Switzerland without electricity shivering with cold, which melted the yes advance quite clearly.
All the other major parties and the federal government are calling for a yes vote.
The bill plans to gradually reduce the consumption of oil and natural gas without, however, prohibiting it. At the same time, Switzerland will have to produce more renewable energies, 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 a tricky one, in a country that depends 75% on imports for its needs, particularly oil and gas.
A fragility brought to light in a dramatic way by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
The “Federal Law on Climate Protection Objectives, on Innovation and on Strengthening Energy Security” aims to reduce this energy dependence on foreign countries while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, without prohibition or new taxes.
Neither gas nor oil
This text is in fact a counter-project to a popular initiative, known as the “glacier initiative” that climate activists had submitted in 2019.
It planned to ban the consumption of fossil fuels from 2050.
The government and Parliament felt that this was too radical and preferred to favor incentives, including financial ones, to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels as much as possible, without banning them.
Their plan provides up to 200 million francs (regarding 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 from the air, will also benefit from support.
The UDC assures that the project, which it describes as an “electricity waste law”, will still lead to a ban on fuel oil, gas, diesel and gasoline as energy sources, which will jeopardize security energy and will cause household electricity bills to skyrocket.
This is not the first time that the SVP has opposed climate laws. In 2021, the party had narrowly failed a project to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Large Business Tax
The Swiss are also called upon to vote on Sunday on a constitutional amendment aimed at implementing the project of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G20 on taxation, at a rate of at least 15%. , large business groups active internationally.
The latest poll 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 the 26 Swiss cantons taxed companies low, in order 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.
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