Swiss households fork out more to protect the environment
Between 2008 and 2016, Swiss spending on environmental protection rose by 5%, though its proportion of GDP slightly fell. Households increased their contribution by almost a quarter. The figures were released on Thursday by the Federal Statistics Office (FSO) and provide a barometer of “the financial effort devoted to preventing, reducing, and eliminating pollution or any other environmental damages”. In 2016, the FSO said in a statement (in French), overall spending on the environment came to CHF11.4 billion ($11.5 billion), or 1.7% of Swiss GDP. In 2008, though the overall figure was 5% lower, the proportion of GDP was 1.8%. The source of the spending still came mainly from business (CHF5.2 billion) and public administration (CHF3.8 billion). The contribution by households, however, increased considerably; in 2016 citizens were responsible for CHF2.4 billion in environmental spending, an increase of 24% since 2008. This figure notably takes into account payments of local ...