The Buildings sector summarises the emissions from households (residential buildings) and services (commercial buildings).
The emissions from the Buildings sector – mainly in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2) – are primarily produced by the use of fossil fuels to heat buildings and provide hot water in residential and commercial buildings. The short-term trend in greenhouse gas emissions from buildings is affected by the weather, as cold winters result in higher emissions than mild winters because more energy is used for heating. In the longer term, building emissions are tending to fall, although the energy reference areas for both households and services have continually grown. The intensity of greenhouse gases in buildings has fallen significantly thanks to improved insulation standards for new buildings and renovations, energy upgrades in old houses, and the increasing replacement of heating oil with natural gas and non-fossil fuels (such as heat pumps, wood, etc.) to heat buildings. However, the majority of buildings in Switzerland are still heated with fossil heating oil or natural gas.
Further information
Documents
Kenngrössen zur Entwicklung der Treibhausgasemissionen in der Schweiz (1990-2022) (PDF, 1 MB, 15.04.2024)Stand April 2024 (in German, also available in French)
Data
Emissionsübersicht: Tabellen zum Bericht (Version April 2024) (XLSX, 350 kB, 15.04.2024)Tabellen zum Bericht «Emissionen von Treibhausgasen nach CO2-Gesetz und Übereinkommen von Paris» (in German, also available in French)
Last modification 15.04.2024
