How is Switzerland achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement?

Switzerland's domestic greenhouse gas emissions amounted to 47.2 million tons of CO₂-eq² in 2017, 75% of which were energy-related¹. In order to comply with the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 and limit climate change, a rapid transformation of the Swiss energy system is essential. The second challenge is that Switzerland already imports electricity in winter while exporting electricity in summer. Without countermeasures, the situation will continue to worsen with the shutdown of nuclear power plants, the expansion of photovoltaic electricity and the use of heat pumps to heat buildings in winter. Many people in the energy sector, in politics, but also in the general public are not aware that a rapid conversion is possible or which solution options are available with which advantages and disadvantages. There is a great danger that decisions will be made on the basis of opinions rather than facts. This project provides an innovative, unique solution to this problem: instead of a report with predefined scenarios, users can use the interactive decarbonization calculator to define their own future energy mix for mobility and for the heat supply of buildings, as well as electricity production for a target year between 2030 and 2050. The effects in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, electricity demand, security of electricity supply, seasonal storage requirements, global temperature increase and so on are displayed immediately.

The simulation model is designed to give the user a deeper understanding of the relationships between individual energy sources, CO₂ emissions and electricity demand. As the results depend on the user's preferences, these results are exploratory in nature and should not be confused with the Confederation's energy perspectives, which show the probable developments of the various technologies and their effects. A simplified prototype of the simulation model is available online.

¹ Swiss Federal Office of Energy SFOE. (2019). Energy Strategy 2050, Monitoring Report 2019, Executive Summary, p.33.

² Federal Office for the Environment FOEN (2019). Climate: the most important facts in brief. Retrieved from: https://www.bafu.admin.ch/bafu/en/home/topics/climate/in-brief.html (last visited: 19.01.2025).

Target group

The model is aimed at decision-makers, politicians and residents of Switzerland, who can use it to interactively compile their own CO₂ phase-out and thus experience that we should act quickly and strongly promote energy savings and the expansion of renewable energies. In particular, the focus should be on the need to import energy (independence, security of supply) and compatibility with the goals of the Paris Agreement (CO₂ emissions, global warming and its effects).

Motivation for this tool

The 1.5-degree target for climate change and the Paris Agreement call for the complete decarbonization of Switzerland's energy system by 2030 (or 2040, depending on the source). However, Swiss energy policy is currently based on the Energy Strategy 2050, which primarily involves the replacement of electricity from nuclear power plants, but not the necessary decarbonization of the energy system. As a result, the goals of Swiss energy policy are not compatible with the goals of Swiss climate policy. This fact is largely unknown to the population, Swiss politicians and even the energy sector. Opponents of wind power plants, for example, often argue that Switzerland already has more than enough electricity today and therefore does not need any more power plants...

Justification for the creation of an interactive model

Swiss energy policy is heavily influenced by lobbyists. This is one of the reasons why calls for the expansion of renewable energies and the substitution of fossil fuels have had little effect. As a result, Switzerland is currently one of the worst performers in Europe in terms of per capita electricity production from photovoltaics and wind energy. In Germany, this production per capita is 8.5 times as high as in Switzerland, in Austria and Belgium 4 times, in the Netherlands and Italy 3.5 times.

Stakeholders need to be aware that we need to change our energy system much more quickly than originally planned if we want to achieve our climate policy goals.
Normally, a ready-made solution is presented in a report and promoted intensively. This is often more about the credibility of the messenger than about the message itself. We want to change this: In the approach we propose, the interested parties should be able to deal with the data and facts themselves and thus form their own opinion - detached from lobbyists.

The project follows the insight of the philosopher Confucius:

“Tell me - and I will forget,
Show me - and I will remember
Involve me - and I will understand.”

The prototype is intended to show what the interactive platform is intended to create in order to simplify the discussion. Ultimately, however, a much more far-reaching tool is to be developed.