CO2 emissions rise and fall at the same time
The high number of heating degree days resulted in higher CO2 emissions last year. Adjusted for weather conditions, however, emissions are falling.
With the annual CO2 statistics, the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN checks how CO2 emissions from combustibles and fuels develop. To ensure that the years are statistically comparable, the influence of winter weather on heating oil and gas consumption is mathematically compensated by means of the so-called weather adjustment.
The CO2 statistics for 2015 published on July 11, 2016, show that the decreasing trend in weather-adjusted emissions from fuels is continuing. Compared to 1990, these emissions were 23.6 percent lower. According to the CO2 Ordinance, the development of these emissions is decisive for the adjustment of the CO2 tax on fuels. The next increase could take place in 2018 if CO2 emissions from fuels in 2016 are not at least 27 percent below the 1990 level.
Without weather adjustment, CO2 emissions from fuels increased by 5 percent compared to the previous year. The strong fluctuation depending on the heating degree days is an indication that the building stock is still largely heated by fossil fuels.
Fewer emissions from fuels
Despite an increase in transport performance, emissions from fuels showed a marked decrease compared with the previous year. The abrupt drop in emissions observed is largely attributable to the abolition of the minimum euro exchange rate by the SNB and the resulting changes in fuel tourism (slump in fuel tourism from abroad in the case of gasoline and increase in fuel tourism by Swiss citizens in neighboring countries in the case of diesel). Although the use of biogenic fuels increased markedly compared with the previous year, the effect on total transport emissions remains low, as their share of total fuel consumption was just under 1 percent in 2015.
Weather adjustment
The aim of the weather adjustment is to determine the additional or reduced consumption of heating energy caused by the differently cold winter months and to convert it to an average weather condition. As a measure, the so-called heating degree days (days on which the temperature remains below 12 degrees Celsius) are used on the one hand, and the radiation values during the winter months (for well-insulated houses an important determinant of fuel consumption) on the other. The reference point is the year 1990, to which the time series is normalized; i.e., in this year the effective and weather-adjusted emission values are the same. The methodology of the weather adjustment corresponds to that of the total energy statistics.
