The Swiss, who feel the impact of global warming in the accelerated thaw his glaciersvote this Sunday on a new climate law that seeks to lead the country to the neutrality of carbon. Recent polls show strong support for the proposal, which would lead to Swiss to reduce their dependence on Petroleum and the gas imported and increase the use of green and local alternatives.
The legislation aims for Switzerland to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. But support declined in a recent poll to 63%, amid warnings from the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (UDC) that such a law could harm the economy.
The voting centers They will open for a few hours this Sunday morning and close at noon. Much of the votes are usually cast in advance on the most popular causes in the Swiss system of direct democracy, with initial results expected in the afternoon.
Defenders of the “Federal Law on Goals of Climate Protection, Innovation and Strengthening of Energy Security” maintain that it is necessary to guarantee the energy security. They say it will help address the impact of climate change, evidenced by the dramatic melting of glaciers in the Swiss Alps, which have lost a third of their volume between 2001 and 2022.
Neither gas nor oil
Switzerland imports around three quarters of its energyincluding all its oil and natural gas. Climate activists initially pushed for a complete ban on oil and gas consumption by 2050 in Switzerland.
But the government made a opposite which dropped the ban but included some elements of the original initiative. The text proposes financial support of 2 billion Swiss francs (USD 2.2 billion) over a decade to promote the replacement of heating to gas or oil with climate-friendly alternatives, as well as help for companies move towards green innovations.
Almost all the matches Big Swiss support the project except the UDC, the largest in the country. This group ensures that the goal of reaching carbon neutrality in 2050 would imply in practice a ban on fossil fuels, which in their opinion would put energy access at risk and make electricity more expensive.
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The leader of the UDC, Marco Chiesa, described the project as “utopian” and warned that it will increase the cost of energy without “any impact” about him world climate. The party has been successful in the past in promoting these kinds of messages.
In 2021 he managed to prevent the approval of a law that would have reduced the emissions of gases that cause global warming. But observers say it will be difficult this time, given the Swiss effort to reduce its dependence on foreign energy sources after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Swiss will also be able to vote on Sunday on an increase in the tax to big companies.