Swiss Citizens Prepare for Rare Vote on Net-Zero Climate Law
Dozen of countries have enacted climate targets through legislation, but the question is rarely put to ordinary people for a vote.
A scooter-driver passes a billboard for the ‘no’-campaign at Zurich-Oerlikon train station in early June.
Photographer: Brian Kahn/Bloomberg
Marco Weibel lived through one of his darkest days in June 2021. It was then that Swiss voters narrowly rejected enshrining the nation’s commitment to the Paris Agreement into law, leaving the country with no legally binding climate target.
Weibel, who works in waste management for the national train network, hadn’t campaigned in support of the referendum two years ago, assuming it would pass. But with a national vote on Sunday of a similar magnitude, this time over the country’s target to reach net zero emissions by 2050, he decided to get involved. As rush hour commuters poured into Zurich’s main train station last week, Weibel flitted among them handing out door hangers supporting the so-called Climate Protection Act.