Swiss go to the polls in referendum on climate crisis – 06/18/2023 – World

The Swiss went to the polls this Sunday (18) to vote in a referendum on measures to combat the climate crisis – a sensitive issue for this country that has seen a dramatic melting of its glaciers. The Alps, Switzerland’s tourist attraction, lost a third of their volume between 2001 and 2022.

Among the points of the consultation is the approval of a law that will oblige the Alpine country to drastically reduce its dependence on oil and gas imports and bet on the development of ecological alternatives.

The Federal Law on Climate Protection Goals, as the text was named, proposes financial support of 2 billion Swiss francs (R$ 10.6 billion) over a decade. The amount would be used to replace part of the heating with gas or oil, in addition to helping companies to advance in green innovations.

At first, climate activists pushed for a total ban on oil and gas consumption by 2050. The government, however, produced a counterproposal that softened the original project.

Exit polls conducted by the gfs.bern institute indicate that voters were in favor of the final text. Estimates indicate that 58% of voters voted in favor of the law – the release of the official result is expected this Sunday.

The trend takes place despite opposition from the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (UDC), which points to possible damage to the nation’s economy. The party argues that achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 would effectively lead to a ban on fossil fuels. From the legend’s point of view, this scenario puts access to energy at risk and could make electricity more expensive. UDC leader Marco Chiesa even called the project “utopian” and warned that the initiative “would have no impact” on the climate.

In the past, the party has been successful in promoting this type of message. In 2021, for example, it managed to prevent the approval of a first version of that same proposal. Currently, however, the reasoning does not gain as much traction in the country — with the exception of the UDC, all the major acronyms have supported the project, and recent surveys have shown strong support for carbon neutrality.

In the period between the two proposals, the Ukrainian War began, which seems to have convinced citizens to reduce dependence on foreign sources of energy. Supporters of the text argue that the law is necessary to ensure energy security, as Switzerland now imports about three-quarters of its energy.

In a second vote also on Sunday, 79% of citizens supported a 15% tax for large multinational companies, according to early exit polls. In 2021, Switzerland joined almost 140 countries that signed an agreement by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), an entity known as the “club of rich countries”, to establish a minimum tax rate for large companies.

The measure aims to limit the transfer of profits to countries with low taxes, such as Switzerland. Most of the nation’s 26 cantons have some of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world — an asset for attracting companies to the high-paying country. Switzerland is home to offices and headquarters of around 2,000 foreign companies, such as Google, as well as 200 Swiss multinationals, such as Nestlé.

Even with the increase, the country will still have one of the lowest corporate taxes in the world. The Swiss government estimates that the tax will generate 1 billion to 2.5 billion Swiss francs in the first year (R$ 5.3 billion to R$ 13.4 billion).