CO2 Act ready for debate in the newly composed National Council
Published: Thursday, Nov 9th 2023, 18:41
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The National Council can discuss the revised CO2 Act on time. Its Environment Committee has approved the draft bill. In some points, it wants to go further than the Council of States. The National Council will debate the bill in its new composition.
The National Council's Committee for the Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy (Urek-N) approved the revised CO2 Act for 2025 to 2030 by 18 votes to 7, as reported by the parliamentary services on Thursday. This ensures that the National Council can discuss the bill in good time and that there will be no regulatory gap from 2025.
Halve greenhouse gas emissions
The revised CO2 Act aims to halve Switzerland's greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990. The Urek-N proposes that 75% of the emission reductions be achieved domestically. The Council of States had decided on a domestic share of two thirds.
Like the Federal Council and the Council of States, the majority of the Urek-N wants to leave the CO2 levy at CHF 120 per tonne of CO2, while a minority wants to propose an increase. Like the Council of States, the Commission wants to earmark up to a third of the levy. The Federal Council, on the other hand, wants to earmark less than half of the levy.
In terms of emissions regulations for passenger cars, the majority is proposing interim targets to achieve a linear reduction from 93.6 grams of CO2 per kilometer in 2025 to 49.5 grams of CO2 per kilometer in 2030. The Council of States, on the other hand, wants newly registered cars from 2030 to emit 45% of the emissions of 2021.
Promote the installation of charging stations
The majority of the Urek-N wants to promote the installation of charging stations - for example in apartment blocks and public parking lots - with money from the mineral oil tax. However, it only wants to use up to CHF 20 million per year for this purpose. The Federal Council is requesting up to 30 million francs.
Like the Council of States, a minority of the Urek-N wants to dispense with this funding altogether. Other minority motions call for a higher federal contribution or a restriction of funding to places of residence and work.
The majority wants to go further than the Council of States when it comes to exempting trucks that run on alternative fuels. It wants to exempt trucks powered by electricity or hydrogen from the performance-related heavy vehicle charge (HVC), as is the case today.
The Urek-N is also requesting a partial exemption for trucks using renewable fuels for eight years. The prerequisite is that these vehicles are put into circulation by the end of 2030.
Another controversial issue is how long the mineral oil tax should be reimbursed for buses operated by public transport companies. The Federal Council would like to abolish this relief as of 2026. The Urek-N, on the other hand, proposed by 14 votes to 11 that the refund of mineral oil tax should not be abolished until 2030.
Tax for flights with private jets
The Urek-N wants a new measure for air traffic: by 14 votes to 9, it proposes a levy on flights with private and business jets weighing over 5.7 tons. It should be between 500 and 3000 francs per flight. A proposal for such a levy failed in the Council of States.
The majority wants to regulate the mandatory blending of renewable aviation fuels proposed by the Federal Council via the overland transport agreement with the EU. This should ensure that the same framework conditions apply to all companies. A minority wants to go further and make Switzerland a pioneer.
The National Council Committee also wants to make the financial sector more accountable. The financial market supervisory authority Finma and the Swiss National Bank should not only regularly review climate-related risks, but also have to report regularly on the results and any measures taken.
New attempt after 2021
In September, the Council of States was less ambitious in its resolutions than the Federal Council and also than the preliminary advisory committee. The bill is a new attempt following the failure of the revised CO2 Act 2021 at the ballot box. The SVP successfully fought this with a referendum.
©Keystone/SDA
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