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CLIMATE-FRIENDLY ALTERNATIVES
Switzerland imports around three quarters of its energy, with all the oil and natural gas consumed coming from abroad.
Climate activists had initially wanted to push for a total ban on all oil and gas consumption in Switzerland by 2050.
But the government balked at the so-called Glacier Initiative, drawing up a counter-proposal that scrapped the idea of a ban but included other elements.
The text promises financial support of two billion Swiss francs (US$2.2 billion) over a decade to promote the replacement of gas or oil heating systems with climate-friendly alternatives, as well as aid to push businesses towards green innovation.
Nearly all of Switzerland’s major parties support the bill, except the SVP – the country’s largest party – which triggered the referendum against what it dismisses as the “electricity-wasting law”.
The SVP says the bill’s goal of achieving climate neutrality in just over a quarter-century would effectively mean a fossil fuel ban, which it claims would threaten energy access and send household electricity bills soaring.
SVP leader Marco Chiesa last month criticised the “utopian” vision behind the bill, maintaining it would drive up energy costs by 400 billion Swiss francs while having basically “no impact” on the global climate.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in April the melting of the Alpine glaciers would have an economic impact in both the short term – such as natural disasters and a loss of tourism revenue – and in the longer term, as they supply rivers and hydroelectric power plants.
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