Explainer: Should some of Switzerland’s wealth be set aside to fight climate change?

In Switzerland, a left-green popular initiative is calling for the creation of a federal fund to boost the development of renewable energies and protect the country’s biodiversity. Those who oppose this idea say the country is already doing enough for the climate and fear an uncontrolled surge in public spending. On March 8, Swiss voters will have their say. What does the initiative call for? The climate fund initiative calls for yearly investments of 0.5% to 1% of Switzerland’s gross domestic product in the country’s ecological transformation. The money, between CHF3.9 and CHF7.7 billion ($4.9 and $9.6 billion) a year, would be used for measures to protect the climate and nature. Who launched it and why? The Social Democratic Party and the Greens launched the initiative “For a fair energy and climate policy: investing for prosperity, jobs and the environment”, as its official name reads, in September 2022. That year was the hottest recorded in Switzerland since measurements began ...