Voting Opponents of the environmental responsibility initiative invest more in the campaign
Comparatively little money is available for the referendum campaigns for and against the environmental responsibility initiative. The Yes camp is budgeting around CHF 234,000, while the opponents are investing around twice as much - CHF 450,000 - in the referendum campaign.
10.01.2025, 09:46
SDA
This is shown by the figures published on Friday by the Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) in view of the federal vote on February 9. The people and cantons will then decide on the environmental responsibility initiative of the Young Greens. The popular initiative demands that in future Switzerland should only use as many resources as nature can replace.
The proponents can draw on funds of around CHF 175,000 from the Young Greens for the Yes campaign. These are partly donations from the Green mother party (CHF 30,000). Greenpeace has budgeted 59,000 francs for the vote.
On the opposing side, only the FDP is investing a larger amount in the referendum campaign, namely CHF 450,000. According to the SFAO, the money came mainly from the business umbrella organization Economiesuisse (CHF 290,000), the Swiss Trade Association (CHF 100,000) and the Homeowners Association (CHF 50,000).
Compared to the biodiversity initiative, which was voted on last September, the campaign funds are manageable. Back then, a total of CHF 6.1 million was spent on the referendum campaign. The proponents spent twice as much money on the referendum campaign as the opponents - ultimately without success; the referendum was clearly rejected by the people and the cantons.
With the publication of campaign budgets by the SFAO, the Confederation is implementing the transparency initiative. Budgets of more than CHF 50,000 must be reported, whereby contributions to the committees of more than CHF 15,000 are listed individually.
