Switzerland Eases Van CO2 Targets but Tightens the Screws on Trucks

Switzerland wants its vehicle climate rules to look a lot more like Brussels'. The Federal Council has pushed draft revisions to the CO2 Act and the Energy Act into the official consultation procedure, with the goal of matching the EU Commission's forthcoming Auto Package for new vehicles from 2030. One thing is deliberately missing: anything covering 2035 and beyond, which keeps Bern well clear of the EU's tangled debate over a so-called phase-out of the combustion engine phase-out.

Vans come out ahead, trucks do not. For light commercial vehicles, the 2030 target value is set at 108.7 g/km, up from the 90.6 g/km previously planned — a clear relaxation. Heavy commercial vehicles go the opposite way, with the proposal demanding a 45 per cent emissions reduction from 2030, a big step up from the 30 per cent that had been on the table.

Swiss freight operators are already ahead of the curve. Battery-electric trucks made up 26 per cent of new registrations in the first half of 2026 among vehicles over 16 tonnes gross vehicle weight, according to figures from the automotive association ACEA. A charging-infrastructure funding programme launched in early 2026 landed so well that its budget was doubled in October, now at 40 million francs, up from 20 million.

Passenger cars stay exactly where they are. The 2030 fleet target holds at 49.5 g/km, already harmonised with strict EU requirements, following the drop to an average of 93.6 grams of CO2 per kilometre on the WLTP cycle since 2025. In October, electric cars accounted for 34.9 per cent of new passenger car registrations. Importers do catch a break on paperwork: compliance for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles can be measured across a three-year average from 2030 to 2032 instead of strictly year by year.

Labelling is getting a rewrite too. The Swiss energy label will be retired in favour of the future uniform EU vehicle label. Because the EU standard sorts vehicles mainly by local CO2 emissions, pure electric cars will now consistently sit in the top efficiency class A — under the Swiss system, many of them only managed category B thanks to the base electricity mix being factored in. Manufacturers will also be allowed to supply the label ex-works, trimming import effort.

Brussels could still tinker with its automotive package, but the Federal Council isn't waiting around and risking blown deadlines. Submissions for the consultation are open until 18 February 2027.