Switzerland: National Council energy committee rejects anti-wind initiatives by 17 to 8 and 17 to 6

The Swiss National Council’s Committee for the Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy (ESPEC-N), meeting in Bern on 2–3 November, recommended rejecting two popular initiatives directed against wind energy: the municipality protection initiative and the forest protection initiative. According to the Parliament’s press release, the committee considers that both run counter to current energy policy, under which wind turbines are to contribute to security of electricity supply in winter.

The figures. The municipality protection initiative, which would require approval by local vote for every wind project, was rejected by 17 votes to 8; a direct counter-proposal failed by 16 to 8 with one abstention. The forest protection initiative, which would ban new turbines in forests and less than 150 metres from forests or wooded pastures, was rejected by 17 to 6 with two abstentions. Both texts have minorities supporting them. According to the Suisse Eole association, citing the Federal Council’s dispatch, the forest initiative would block around 85% of wind projects that are planned or under way in the approval process.

The arguments. The committee majority sees the forest initiative as a de facto technology ban, since most suitable sites lie less than 150 metres from a forest. Both initiatives would retroactively require approval or dismantling of installations built after 1 May 2024; the committee considers that this would amount to expropriations, with considerable costs for the Confederation and the cantons. As regards municipalities, the committee notes that the Energy Act already involves them in project planning.

What comes next. In June, the Federal Council had recommended rejecting both initiatives without a counter-proposal, calling wind energy “a pillar of Switzerland’s security of supply in winter”. The decision now rests with the National Council. Suisse Eole, the association for the promotion of wind energy, welcomed the committee’s vote as a clear message against blanket bans on wind energy.

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