The majority of Swiss voters supported a Bill that would establish new climate regulations and drastically reduced the rich Alpine nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.
According to final results made public by national broadcaster SRF, 59.1% of voters supported the Bill, while just 40.9% opposed it.
A push by scientists and environmentalists to safeguard Switzerland’s glaciers, which are thought to be melting at an alarming rate, spurred the referendum.
Campaigners first proposed even more aggressive restrictions, but later supported a government plan requiring Switzerland to reach “net-zero” emissions by 2050.
It also sets aside more than three billion Swiss francs (£2.6 billion) to help wean companies and homeowners off fossil fuels.
The nationalist Swiss People’s Party, which demanded the popular vote, had claimed that the proposed measures would cause electricity prices to rise.
Supporters of the idea stated that Switzerland would be heavily hurt by global warming and that the impacts of rising temperatures on its iconic glaciers were already visible.
According to Georg Klingler, a climate and energy specialist with Greenpeace Switzerland, “With this win, the objective of achieving net-zero emissions will finally be enshrined in law. This improves planning security and paves the way for our nation to move away from fossil fuels.
“The result of the vote shows that the citizens of our country are committed to the aim of limiting global warming to 1.5C in order to preserve as much as possible our glaciers, our water reserves, our agriculture and our prosperity.
“But by no means everyone is in favour of the law. The argument with the costs has brought many ‘no’ votes,” He added.
Last year, Swiss glaciers saw historic melting, shedding more than 6% of their volume and frightening scientists who believe a loss of 2% would formerly have been deemed extreme.
Experts such as Matthias Huss, a glaciologist at the Swiss Institute for Technology in Zurich, have taken to posting dramatic snapshots of retreating glaciers and rockslides from melting permafrost on social media to highlight the changes taking place in the Alps.
