Switzerland's bilateral agreements to offset their emissions set a poor precedent for ambition

The NewClimate Institute criticizes Switzerland's bilateral agreements with Georgia, Peru, Senegal, and Ghana, arguing that by targeting 'low-hanging fruit' mitigation projects to offset its own emissions, Switzerland sets a poor precedent that undermines the ambition-raising goals of the Paris Agreement and restricts the ability of host countries to meet their own climate targets.

• Switzerland has entered bilateral agreements with Georgia, Peru, Senegal, and Ghana to support climate mitigation projects in exchange for the transfer of mitigation outcomes to help Switzerland meet its Paris Agreement national target. The NewClimate Institute argues these agreements do not signal decarbonization for Switzerland and instead close off the best available options for host countries to implement their own Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and increase future ambition.
• The agreement between Switzerland and Georgia focuses on energy efficiency retrofits for large public buildings. The NewClimate Institute asserts that because these measures have relatively low abatement costs and are already prioritized in Georgia's NDC implementation plan and the 2020 Law of Georgia on Energy Efficiency, they do not support ambition raising for either nation. For Switzerland, the low costs fail to incentivize domestic decarbonization, while for Georgia, transferring these reductions to Switzerland may jeopardize its own domestic climate goals.
• The NewClimate Institute contends that Switzerland is failing to meet its international climate finance obligations while utilizing market mechanisms. Citing ODI analysis, the document states that Switzerland's contributions to international climate finance are 38% below its fair share of the goal to mobilize USD 100 billion annually, a finding echoed by the Climate Action Tracker, which described Switzerland's contributions as 'highly insufficient'.
• The document argues that for market mechanisms under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement to truly raise ambition, they must shift from 'low-hanging fruit' to 'high-hanging fruit'—mitigation actions that are too costly for host countries to achieve unilaterally. This would ensure a meaningful price signal for the buying country to reduce its own emissions first and unlock finance for hard-to-abate emission sources.

APA

NewClimate Institute (2021). Switzerland's bilateral agreements to offset their emissions set a poor precedent for ambition. http://www.newclimate.org/news/switzerlands-bilateral-agreements-to-offset-their-emissions-set-a-poor-precedent-for-ambition

Chicago

NewClimate Institute. Switzerland's bilateral agreements to offset their emissions set a poor precedent for ambition. 2021. http://www.newclimate.org/news/switzerlands-bilateral-agreements-to-offset-their-emissions-set-a-poor-precedent-for-ambition.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=NewClimate Institute |title=Switzerland's bilateral agreements to offset their emissions set a poor precedent for ambition |date=28 October 2021 |url=http://www.newclimate.org/news/switzerlands-bilateral-agreements-to-offset-their-emissions-set-a-poor-precedent-for-ambition |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{newclimateinstitute2021switzerlands, author = {{NewClimate Institute}}, title = {{Switzerland's bilateral agreements to offset their emissions set a poor precedent for ambition}}, publisher = {NewClimate Institute}, year = {2021}, month = oct, url = {http://www.newclimate.org/news/switzerlands-bilateral-agreements-to-offset-their-emissions-set-a-poor-precedent-for-ambition}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }