Environment Zurich municipal council wants to reduce CO2 emissions at the airport

The City of Zurich owns shares in Flughafen Zürich AG: the municipal council wants to use this strategic stake to push the airport to rapidly reduce its CO2 emissions - but the city only holds a minority stake.

At its meeting on Saturday, the municipal council referred a postulate from the SP and GLP to the city council with 69 votes in favor and 38 against. The City Council must now examine whether it can enshrine the "rapid and significant reduction of CO2 emissions caused by operations and air traffic at Zurich Airport" as a top priority in its airport ownership strategy.

The City of Zurich holds five percent of the shares in Flughafen Zürich AG because it wants to participate and get involved, stated Mayor Corine Mauch (SP). The City Council would examine how the city could further strengthen its commitment to the climate at Flughafen Zürich AG.

However, Mauch also pointed out that the possibilities for exerting influence were limited. The airport has a performance mandate from the federal government - it can neither determine which aircraft land nor which airline flies where.

It is a fact that more and more people want to fly, said SVP local councillor Stefan Urech. It was naïve to believe that one sentence in the city's ownership would change anything.

With a five percent stake, not much could be achieved and the airport board of directors could not be overruled, the Center and FDP also stated. They pointed out that the airport was already doing a lot in terms of sustainability.

Markus Knauss (Greens) criticized the fact that the city had failed to take a critical stance towards the airport in the past. However, "not much will happen" with the current postulate, as there is no means of exerting pressure. In order to send out a signal, the Greens nevertheless backed the initiative.

Sven Sobernheim (GLP) was annoyed that parts of the municipal council considered the ownership strategy to be useless: "The city holds a strategic stake, now it must also formulate a strategy," he said.

SDA