The Swiss voted by a large majority on Sunday in favor of carbon neutrality by 2050, in an alpine country where the announced death of its emblematic glaciers embodies the ravages of climate change.
In a second referendum, they also accepted the introduction of a 15% tax on large companies active internationally, according to estimates published from 10:00 a.m. local time, at the close of the polls.
At 10:15 a.m., the yes vote won at 58.7% for the climate law, while it exceeded 79% for the new tax, according to projections by the Tamedia press group.
All the major parties and the federal government had called for a yes vote, except for Switzerland’s leading party, the radical right’s UDC. But his anxiety-inducing campaign playing on the fear of a country without electricity shivering with cold ultimately failed to convince the population.
Encourage without forbidding
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 tabled 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 (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 from the air, will also benefit from support.
The UDC assures that the project, which it describes as an “law on the waste of electricity”, will nevertheless lead to a ban on oil, gas, diesel and gasoline as sources of energy, 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 estimates anticipated a massive yes to the constitutional amendment aimed at implementing the project of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G20 on the taxation, at a rate of at least 15%, of large internationally active business groups.
The minimum taxation will apply to business groups with an annual turnover of at least €750 million.
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 concerned in Switzerland is estimated at a few hundred by the Federal Tax Administration, which estimates that revenue from the additional tax will be between 1 and 2.5 billion francs in the first year.