Indicator Climate

The CO₂ levy for fossil thermal fuels is an important instrument for achieving international and national emissions targets. The CO₂ levy rate is raised when degree-day-adjusted CO₂ emissions from thermal fuels exceed the stipulated threshold values. This way, the CO₂ levy was raised in January 2014 from 36 to 60 francs per ton of CO₂, in January 2016 to 84 francs per ton of CO₂, in January 2018 to 96 francs per ton of CO₂ and in January 2022 to 120 francs per ton of CO₂. At the moment, legislation does not foresee to further increase the CO₂ levy.

In 2021, the degree-day-adjusted CO₂ emissions from thermal fuels decreased once again. Compared to 1990, the emissions decreased by 32.8 percent, compared to the previous year the decrease amounts to 2.3 percent. This reduction can, to a large degree, be attributed to increased energy efficiency in buildings and an increased use of renewable energy for heating.

In 2021, CO₂ emissions from motor flues increased by 1.5 percent compared to the previous year. The emissions are, however, still clearly lower than the values from 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic. Compared to the 1990 level, the emissions decreased by a total of 4.2 percent. The fact that the emissions did not increase more strongly is, apart from the Covid-19 pandemic, in part due to the increased share of electromobility in road traffic.

The state is evaluated as medium and the development as unsatisfactory.

• Related indicators
• Energy efficiency of buildings
• Greenhouse gas emissions
• Treibhausgasemissionen nach Gasen
• Treibhausgasemissionen pro Kopf

CO₂ emissions based on CO₂ statistics make up only a portion of the greenhouse gas emissions that are reported in accordance with the CO₂ Act, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. For an international comparison, please refer to the “Greenhouse gas emissions per inhabitant” indicator. 

The energy-related CO₂ emissions based on CO₂ statistics listed here include all CO₂ emissions from motor fuels and from thermal fuels subject to the CO₂ levy and are corrected for weather conditions.
 
Energy-related CO₂ emissions based on CO₂ statistics are calculated by adding up the individual emissions from fossil motor and thermal fuels. These are calculated as follows: emission = annual activity * emission factor. The annual activity rate captures the magnitude of an activity, which in this case is the annual consumption of a thermal fuel (e.g. heating oil, natural gas) or a motor fuel (e.g. diesel oil, gasoline, kerosene, aviation gasoline). In this calculation, an adjustment for degree days and solar radiation is made for the thermal fuel emissions in order to account for the influence of fluctuations in weather conditions. Source: Overall energy statistics (Swiss Federal Office of Energy).
 
The full time series is recalculated in the event of changes to the methodology, improvements to the available source data or retrospective corrections of error.