Signature de la déclaration d’intention pour l’adhésion à l’initiative Exemplarité Énergie et Climat

Office fédéral de l’énergie

Berne, 24.10.2023 – The annual conference of the Confederation’s Exemplarity Energy and Climate Initiative is taking place today at the University Hospital of Basel. The highlight of the program is the accession of the BLS transport company and the university hospitals of Basel, Bern, Geneva, and Lausanne to the initiative: in the presence of Federal Councillor Albert Rösti and Kaspar Sutter, State Councillor of the Canton of Basel-City, they will celebrate the signing of a letter of intent in which they set energy and climate goals and impose concrete measures on themselves. Furthermore, the Energy and Climate report of the EEC initiative for the year 2022 (under review) is published today.

After intensive preparations, BLS announces today that it is joining the EEC initiative. Over the past months, the transport company has developed a sustainable development strategy with climate and energy goals and compiled a comprehensive assessment of its greenhouse gas emissions, including the upstream and downstream value chain. Based on this, concrete measures have been defined to improve energy efficiency, implement the first aspects of the circular economy, adapt activities to climate change, and improve transparency in supply chains.

The accession of the university hospitals of Basel, Bern, Geneva, and Lausanne to the initiative was announced as early as February and will also be realized during the conference. Over the past months, the hospitals have defined their 2030 goals and the monitoring related to them. In the coming years, they will implement individual measures in the areas of medical devices, procurement, food, and waste, for example by reducing the electricity consumption of large radiological devices and promoting environmentally friendly catering.

In addition, the Energy and Climate Report 2022 of the EEC initiative is published today. The actors report on their progress. Developments in the past year were marked by both the end of the Covid-19 pandemic and concerns about energy shortages and a warm winter. During the review year, the actors ensured the energy refurbishment of 91,000 m2 of energy reference surface, equivalent to approximately 130 small residential buildings with ten apartments each with two, three, or four rooms. In 2022, they consumed approximately 6450 GWh of final energy, of which 4200 GWh (about 65%) came from renewable sources.

Quotes

“The heterogeneity of BLS, with multimodal mobility combining bus, train and boat, offers many opportunities to improve energy and resource efficiency. With the new major sustainable development strategy and by joining the EEC initiative, we want to fully exploit this potential in the long term.”

Daniel Schafer, CEO, BLS

“In hospitals, large medical devices, especially MRI machines, consume a lot of energy. In addition, medical products and catering generate a lot of indirect emissions. That is why, at the level of the four university hospitals, we have decided to address these issues.”

Dr. Werner Kübler, Director, University Hospital Basel

“Protecting the climate also means protecting health. We are one of the largest medical care systems in Switzerland and therefore have a responsibility to fulfill. That is why Insel Gruppe is part of the Exemplarity Energy and Climate initiative.”

Dr. hc Uwe E. Jocham, CEO, Insel Gruppe, Bern

“Healthcare facilities have a social and environmental responsibility towards the population, which needs to be fully assumed today. Committing to reduce our ecological footprint is now inseparable from our commitment to health.”

Prof. Nicolas Demartines, General Director, CHUV, Lausanne

“The HUG has committed to striving for climate neutrality in its hospital activities and to developing a climate plan and 2030 and 2050 goals to reduce direct and indirect emissions. They have also been the initiators of the ‘Geneva Sustainability Centre’ supported by the International Hospital Federation (FIH-IHF). We are delighted to participate with the other hospitals in this common and crucial ambition.”

Bertrand Levrat, CEO, HUG, Geneva

About the Initiative

As actors of the Exemplarity Energy and Climate (EEC) initiative, public service providers and institutional investors contribute to the Energy Strategy 2050 and the achievement of the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015. The focus is on energy efficiency, renewable energy, and, recently, climate-friendly financial flows.

Public service providers pursue individual goals until 2026 or 2030 in the areas of energy efficiency, ecological electricity generation, renewable heat and cold, and renewable fuels. The share of renewable electricity should ideally be 100% for all by 2026. To achieve these goals, these actors are implementing 15 joint measures and several individual measures.

Institutional investors set goals for their investments to make them compatible with the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement. For example, participating pension funds and insurances require climate-friendly behavior from the companies in which they invest. In addition, they continuously reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the real estate they directly hold in their portfolio.

All actors transparently communicate the achievement of their goals and share their experiences so that other companies and organizations can follow their example.

The following actors are part of the initiative: the Federal Civil Administration, BLS, CarPostal, CFF Pension Fund, CFF, the Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS), the Federal Institutes of Technology Domain, Flughafen Zürich AG, Geneva Airport, University Hospitals, Post, PostFinance, PUBLICA, the Republic and Canton of Geneva, RUAG MRO Holding SA, SIG, Skyguide, SSR, Suva, and Swisscom.

Media Contact

Further information is available at www.vorbild-energie-klima.admin.ch/vbe/fr/home.html. Upon request, we gladly provide high-resolution images and arrange interviews with representatives of the relevant actors.

Address for sending questions

OFEN Press Service, 058 460 81 52, [email protected]
Stefanie Reding, Head of the Exemplarity Energy and Climate Secretariat, 058 467 88 54,
[email protected]

Author

Office fédéral de l’énergie

Secrétariat général DETEC