Switzerland backs net-zero climate law in referendum

Almost 60% of Swiss voters have backed plans to severely cut emissions by 2050 despite opposition from the right-wing Swiss People’s Party. In a second vote, 78.5% supported a minimum tax of 15% for multinational firms.

Swiss voters on Sunday supported a new climate bill aimed at combating the melting glaciers and requiring the country to become carbon neutral by 2050.

Leading Swiss glaciologist Matthias Huss, who has closely followed the glaciers’ decline, tweeted that a “strong signal” had been sent, adding he was “very happy the arguments of climate science were heard.”

Socialist Party parliamentarian Valerie Piller Carrard also welcomed the result as “an important step for future generations.”

A full 59.1% of voters back the new law, which will require Switzerland to slash its dependence on imported oil and gas and scale up the development of greener, more homegrown alternatives.

Voters also backed adopting a global minimum tax rate of 15% for international companies in a second referendum, with 78.5% in favor of the new, higher rate.

Right-wing opposition to climate bill

Parliament already passed the climate law, which aims to make Switzerland climate neutral by 2050 and reduce the impact on the country’s iconic glaciers, which are melting away at an alarming rate.

But the right-wing conservative Swiss People’s Party (SVP) had refused to back it, arguing that cutting climate-damaging emissions by 75% by 2050, compared to 1990, would cause energy prices to explode.

SVP leader Marco Chiesa last month criticized the “utopian” vision behind the bill, maintaining it would drive up energy costs by 400 billion Swiss francs (€447 billion, €4.08 billion) while having basically “no impact” on the global climate.

The SVP collected sufficient signatures to force the referendum vote under Switzerland’s system of direct democracy.

Learn more: DW