The Swiss, feeling the impact of global warming on their rapidly melting glaciers, were voting on Sunday on a new climate bill aimed at steering the country towards carbon neutrality.
Recent opinion polls indicate strong support for the proposed law, which would require Switzerland to slash its dependence on imported oil and gas, scaling up the development and use of greener and more home-grown alternatives.
But the backing slipped in the most recent survey by pollster gfs.bern, albeit remaining at 63 percent in favor, amid claims by the populist right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) that the law, which would commit the country to become carbon neutral by 2050, could harm the economy.
Polling stations were to open for a few hours on Sunday morning before closing at noon (1000 GMT).
But most votes are typically cast in advance for popular votes held under Switzerland’s famous direct democratic system, and initial results were expected by mid-afternoon.
Supporters say the proposed “Federal Act on Climate Protection Targets, Innovation and Strengthening Energy Security” is needed to ensure energy security.
They say it will also help address the ravages of climate change, highlighted by the dramatic melting of glaciers in the Swiss Alps, which lost a third of their ice volume between 2001 and 2022.
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 ($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 criticized the “utopian” vision behind the bill, maintaining it would drive up energy costs by 400 billion Swiss francs ($448 billion), 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. AFP