Gianna Blum and Sermîn Faki
“It will now be very difficult for our country to achieve our climate goals.” Environment Minister Simonetta Sommaruga (61) was visibly disappointed by the no to CO2-Law.
But the no also has short-term consequences: So far, companies have been able to get out of the CO2-Let the tax exempt. This regulation will now expire in 2021 without replacement. Just like the requirement that fuel importers have to finance climate protection projects. For hundreds of companies, the rejection could be expensive, the oil lobby is spared.
For Sommaruga, it is now a matter of preventing this and extending the relevant provisions. “I’ll have talks about that next week.” With the FDP it should run open doors with it: A parliamentary initiative in this direction is already available. If Parliament makes rapid progress, interim solutions should be possible by the end of the year.
Hard fronts foreseeable
The more difficult question is how the big hit will continue. Hard fronts are already emerging: the SP and the Greens announce that they want to make the financial center more climate-friendly through an initiative. They also want to ensure that the economy is restructured ecologically – as US President Joe Biden (78) and the EU are planning with their “Green Deal”.
This is unlikely to go down well with the commoners. FDP President Petra Gössi (45) thinks, for example, that her party is with the CO2-Great “too many compromises” law. If the law were to be reissued, “even more liberal solutions should be found”. But she couldn’t say what would be more liberal than the steering taxes that were just rejected. Only: One now has to analyze how majorities can be found.
Incentive taxes from the table for the time being
FDP National Councilor Christian Wasserfallen (39), who opposed the party opinion for a no, pleads for the existing instruments to be re-examined. “In the medium term, a new template must also contain international components in order to get as much CO as possible with the franc2 to save. ” Means: CO2-Buy certificates and do as little as possible in Germany.
The middle, on the other hand, favors a slimmed-down version of the sunken law, without the airline ticket tax and fuel surcharge. The FDP Council of States Ruedi Noser (60), who is one of the losers, also supports this. “It is clear that the referendum must be respected. Raising fuel prices or a flight ticket tax are off the table. “
Glacier Initiative will be the next chunk
The next climate policy proposal – left-wing initiatives and bourgeois ideas or not – with the glacier initiative will soon be on the agenda anyway. This wants to set the goals of Paris in the constitution. The Federal Council wants to make a direct counter-proposal to the project, and it should submit the message on this before the summer holidays.
Even commoners hope for a fresh start. “It is important that the glacier initiative now gets through parliament and the vote quickly,” says Noser. “Then it will be clear whether the population supports the net-zero target by 2050 – and if it is yes, this is also stipulated in the constitution.” When this fundamental question has been clarified, one can also talk about measures to achieve the goal. A procedure that Sommaruga would also find useful, as she said.
For Marcel Hänggi, the head behind the glacier initiative, failure is a debacle. “A broad alliance of parties has not succeeded in making the population aware of the urgency of the climate crisis.” Too much had been argued about money. “The no certainly does not mean that there are no majorities for the fight against climate change.”