Innovative and sustainable climate protection
The Climate Cent Foundation is a voluntary scheme set up by the Swiss business community with the aim of ensuring effective climate protection. Its funds are invested on the one hand in projects in the field of negative emissions technologies carried out in Switzerland and abroad. On the other hand, the Foundation funds climate protection programmes abroad whose mitigation outcomes can be determined according to internationally recognised principles and credited by Switzerland toward meeting its emission reduction target. Certified emission reductions and carbon sink effects yielded by these activities are handed over to the Swiss Confederation free of charge.
Climate Cent charge assets provide funding
The Climate Cent Foundation was funded from October 2005 to August 2012 by a levy of 1.5 cents per litre on all petrol and diesel imports. This resulted in revenues amounting to 718 million Swiss francs. In addition, the Foundation sold certified emissions reductions of around 1 million tonnes of CO₂, worth 108 million Swiss francs, to the Foundation for Climate Protection and Carbon Offset (KliK). Following the fulfilment of all the tasks that comprised its mandate from the federal government in the period from 2008 to 2020, there was a surplus of free assets amounting to some 60 million Swiss francs.
A major contribution to Switzerland’s net zero emissions target
At the beginning of 2021, Switzerland internationally declared its intention to bring its greenhouse gas emissions down to net zero by 2050. However, the Swiss Confederation currently assumes that by 2050, Switzerland will still be emitting 10 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent, which will need to be offset by means of negative emissions technologies. In this long-term perspective, the Climate Cent Foundation therefore aims to contribute to getting the necessary technologies off the ground.
- Over the period 2008 to 2012, precisely 2 million tonnes of CO₂ were reduced in Switzerland.
- Over 16 million certificates stemming from projects registered with the UN were handed over to the Swiss Confederation. Each certificate stands for the verified reduction of one tonne of CO₂ equivalent.
- The certificates are used by the Swiss Confederation to meet its international climate protection commitment under the Kyoto Protocol.
- The Climate Cent Foundation alone has provided at least half of the emission reductions required to meet Switzerland’s Kyoto pledge in the first commitment period (2008-2012).
- More than 20 million certificates delivered by the UN for greenhouse gas emission reductions achieved over the period 2013 to 2020 were handed over to the Swiss Confederation. Each certificate stands for the verified reduction of one tonne of CO₂ equivalent.
- The certificates are used by the Swiss Confederation to meet its international climate protection commitment under the Kyoto Protocol.
- The Climate Cent Foundation alone has provided around a third of the emission reductions required to meet Switzerland’s Kyoto pledge in the second commitment period (2013-2020).
The KliK Foundation - continuing the mission
With the entry into force of the revised CO₂ law on 1 January 2013, the voluntary phase in Swiss climate policy came to an end. Since that time, suppliers of fossil fuels have been obligated by law to offset a percentage of the CO₂ emissions associated with the use of the fuels, as determined by the Federal Council within the legal requirements. The vast majority of the oil companies affected joined forces to form the carbon offset organisation known as The Foundation for Climate Protection and Carbon Offset (KliK) in order to guarantee the sector-wide fulfilment of this duty.