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Climate activists at Kirchenfeldbrücke in Bern. Image: keystone
Climate strike Francophone Switzerland takes referendum against CO2 law: SP and LPG are not amused
One week after the final vote in parliament, it is clear that signatures will be collected against the new CO2 law. Various French-speaking sections of the climate strike movement are fighting what they consider to be an insufficient proposal with a referendum.
This was announced by representatives of various climate strike regions in Bern on Friday. Consequently, the climate strike regions of Geneva, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Jura, Valais and Jura of Bern are launching the referendum. The national climate strike deliberately left the organization and strategy of the referendum to the regions, “to preserve the internal heterogeneity of the movement.”
The move is not surprising. After the respective debates in the National Council and the Council of States, several climate protection activists expressed their disappointment at what was achieved. The tenor was that the current CO2 law is not close enough to stop global warming. Politicians have yet to recognize the urgency of the climate crisis.
Reaching climate goals is questionable
Franziska Meinherz, spokesperson for the climate strike movement, put it in a nutshell in front of the media: “The CO2 law clearly does not meet the various emissions reduction targets, ignores climate justice and solidifies existing structures.” The proposal is less a climate law than an investment proposal for Swiss companies.
Rather than displaying alternative behaviors, only individual consumer behavior is controlled with incentive taxes, Meinherz said. “The problem is postponed, the law does not present real solutions.” The financial sector is also criticized for being removed from the bill, although it is one of the biggest climate drivers.
“The green wave betrayed us”
Various sections of the climate strike do not leave parliament alone. “Switzerland does not have a climate policy,” Meinherz said. The Greens and SP celebrated the CO2 law as a victory, the climate strike movement describes it as treason. The template is incompatible with the demands of the climate movement. “Parliament does not take us seriously, the green wave betrayed us.”
In the end, the left in parliament clearly supported the law despite some loopholes. If they say no, they fear another delay in the fight against climate change. The CO2 Law contains various measures, for example in road and air traffic, as well as in the construction sector, with which it is intended to achieve the progressive reduction of greenhouse gases.
Nordmann: “Don’t sign the referendum”
The National Council of the SP and the leader of the parliamentary group Roger Nordmann even called on Friday afternoon not to sign the referendum. “This law is good and therefore the Senior Vice President and the Petroleum Association defend it by referendum,” Nordmann said in a tweet.
The green liberals are not “amused” either: their Young Party writes that they “do not understand the support for the referendum.” “It almost seems as if the climate strikers want to learn to fly before they can walk,” Tobias Vögeli, co-chair of JGLP Switzerland, is quoted in a statement.
SVP against you too
The law is also likely to be released from elsewhere. The SVP rejected the proposal as “too socialist” and as “a mega bureaucratic monster” in parliament, but has so far been reluctant to take the initiative in collecting signatures. Organizations such as the trade association or Auto Schweiz had also expressed criticism of the CO2 law. They want to decide in the coming weeks how they feel about the referendum.
“We clearly distance ourselves from the climate deniers of the SVP and the gluttons of Economiesuisse,” Meinherz said. The objective of the different sections of the climate strike is to get 50,000 signatures regardless of other referendums. Various organizations would support the climate strikers.
No initiative yet
For a referendum, 50,000 certified signatures must be collected within one hundred days as soon as the law is published in the Federal Gazette. That should be the case next Tuesday.
Representatives of the climate strike said it was still too early for a popular initiative on climate protection. That will be updated “possibly later”. (sda)
