Swiss Voters Lead the Way on Rejecting Emission Curbs
10th February 2025
After a set of strict emissions limits was voted down at the polls on Sunday, Switzerland’s Young Greens—who unsurprisingly brought the proposals forward—complained that “defenders of the status quo” had been victorious. Clearly, the opposite is the case: Swiss voters signaled a small yet decisive shift away from Europe’s destructive green drive.
Brussels is, however, more likely to pay attention to those Swiss lawmakers desperately searching for other ways to legislate ‘for the environment’—and, as issues surrounding the EU’s Green Deal show, against competitiveness.
Among other measures included in the ‘Environmental Responsibility’ proposals, voters rejected reducing greenhouse gases emitted through consumption to 10% of their 2018 levels within the next decade. Bloomberg says they did so—with 69.8% voting against, no less, and with none of the country’s 26 cantons voting in favour—because of “economic concerns.”