nw08030 's List: Climate Change

• Italian-Swiss agreement will be the second of three made necessary by the shrinking Alpine glaciers

• Matterhorn
• ridge of the glacier marks the border between the two countries. But the glacier is now receding, so a draft agreement has been proposed to create a new border that coincides with the ridge of the underlying rock.

• Aletsch glacier, the largest in the Alps, is 23.6km long, contains 26.5 billion tons of ice and covers more than 120 square kilometres in southern Switzerland.
• Switzerland's glaciers shrank by 12 per cent,
• "If this melts, we'll have no other way of sustaining our livelihood. Tourism and water - that is what we live from.

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• 40 per cent of its electricity from five nuclear power plants and the vast majority of the rest from hydropower
• "Energy Outlook Forum" final report
• main actors from politics, business, civil society and the environment to discuss Switzerland's long-term energy policy up to 2035
• economic incentives to encourage innovation and the progressive introduction of energy-saving regulations
• investment in renewable energies, which it claims offers the greatest potential in terms of profitability and efficiency
• sharp criticism from two of the working group participants
• economiesuisse
• swisselectric,
• does not pay enough attention to the supply question, and economic, ecological or social issues
• Greenpeace, was generally in favour of the report, but regretted that the question of nuclear power remained vague.

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• supported by business circles and by the centre-right parties but have run into a storm of criticism from environmentalists
• ollow the European Union's target for 2020 to cut emission levels by 20 per cent in comparison with those of 1990. Should the EU increase its target to 30 per cent, Switzerland will follow suit
• mix of measures focused on buildings and transpor
• Environment Minister Moritz Leuenberger
• Swiss business federation, economiesuisse, is one of the groups which have broadly welcomed the government proposals
• WWF Switzerland
• price policy and the adoption of new technology
• economiesuisse strongly supports the continuation of voluntary incentives, while WWF wants a CO2 tax imposed on vehicle fuels immediately
• roposed that the government and the cantons should give tax incentives to ensure that by 2020 ten per cent of the total fleet will consist of very low emission vehicles.
• WWF deplored the fact that the government has put off indefinitely the introduction of the CO2 tax.
• economic sense
• Vehicle fuel is currently much cheaper in Switzerland than in neighbouring countries. WWF wants the price to be increased to the same level, but Näf believes there are good reasons for the difference
• country with a lot of peripheral areas, with mountains, with snow in winter, so public transport isn't so easy and people need bigger, stronger vehicles
• Polls have shown that a large majority of the population is convinced that climate change is indeed occurring and is ready to try to tackle it
• rightwing Swiss People's Party
• make Switzerland less competitive
• investment in climate protection would create jobs and improve competitiveness
• . International cooperation is essentia

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• Swiss Environment Minister Moritz Leuenberger,
• "entirely justified" for the major emerging economies to demand more influence on the future rules for the financial markets, "these countries must be willing to take more responsibility in the efforts to combat climate change".
• all countries should adopt binding commitments
• personal CO2 budget
• Al Gore

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• concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in the 20th century increased ten times faster than at any other period in the preceding 22,000 years.

• acks the creation of a global system to ensure decision-makers obtain accurate and timely climate information and predictions.
• CO2 levy on heating oil will be extended beyond 2012 and the government is reserving the right to impose a tax on petrol and diesel
• creation of a worldwide network, the so-called Global Framework for Climate Services,

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• UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),
• who should make the biggest sacrifices on curbing harmful emissions, and how to beef up support for poor countries
• formulation of a joint vision for climate protection, global emissions targets, adaptation measures and the guarantee and extension of schemes to transfer technology and finance

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• Environment Minister Moritz Leuenberger
• Switzerland supported the introduction of a CO2 tax to fund projects in the developing world. These projects are aimed at helping the countries adapt to climate change

• World Climate Conference in Geneva
• Switzerland supports the "polluter pays" principle and has proposed a levy on CO2 emission
• December's UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen, which will decide on emission reduction measures to replace those agreed in Kyoto in 1997 which expire in 2013

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• Switzerland should seize climate change opportunities to become a green role model and strive for more ambitious emission targets, says a leading climate expert
• ntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
• enovating buildings, making them more efficient in terms of heating. Also, savings can be made in private mobility

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• Switzerland, like many densely populated industrialised countries, is vulnerable to the consequences of climate change,
• CO2 levy on heating oil will be extended beyond 2012 and the government is reserving the right to impose a tax on petrol and diesel.
• n the medium term Switzerland would like to see the creation of a worldwide network, the so-called Global Framework for Climate Services, to address the needs of decision-makers worldwide to obtain accurate and timely climate information and predictions

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• Switzerland will reduce its CO2 emissions without increasing vehicle fuel tax under a government-approved plan to be put to the next session of parliamen
• upported by business circles and by the centre-right parties but have run into a storm of criticism from environmentalists

• called on Switzerland to stop lagging behind other countries and take a leading role in developing renewable energie

• novate to reduce its reliance on rapidly increasing oil prices, a
• permission to build a new nuclear plant in Solothurn. Such a move, however, is almost certain to attract a public referendum.
• criticism of the business climate tax.

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• Swiss electricity company Atel has broken the taboo surrounding new nuclear power plants
• It would be better to spend the time and money it would take to build a new facility on developing renewable sources of energy,"
• 8 years before the process is completed.
• Greenpeace and the Swiss Energy Foundation are members, has already announced it will demand a nationwide vote

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• il prices rise, electricity produced from the sun's rays is becoming an economically attractive opti

• European Union, Switzerland intends to ban energy-guzzling light bulbs, and started its own measures before those of the 27-member body

• clear energy provides Switzerland with 40 per cent of its power but more than half of the public oppose the technology to some degree,
• Social Democratic parliamentarian Rudolf Rechsteiner, a prominent anti-nuclear advocate in Switzerland, says it is not worth the risk.
• more dangerous energy and internationally, the experiences have been negative regardless of whether a country uses nuclear energy or not," h

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