A referendum is being held in Switzerland to decide on a climate bill aimed at introducing new measures to save the country’s melting glaciers.
Swiss voters are heading to the polls after a campaign by scientists and environmentalists argued that the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced.
Campaigners are backing a government plan that requires Switzerland to achieve “net zero” emissions by 2050, after initially proposing even more ambitious measures.
They argue that the country will be hard hit by global warming and is already seeing the effects of rising temperatures as glaciers melt at an alarming rate.
Chunks of ice float in a lake in front of Rhone glacier. Pic: AP
The plan also sets aside more than 3bn Swiss francs (£2.6bn) to help wean companies and homeowners off fossil fuels.
However, the nationalist Swiss People’s Party, which demanded a popular vote on the bill, claims the proposed measures will cause electricity prices to rise.
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Pic: AP
Glaciologist Matthias Huss, checks the thickness of the Rhone glacier. Pic: AP
Swiss glaciers experienced record melting last year – losing more than 6% of their volume.
This shocked scientists, who said a loss of 2% would once have been considered extreme.
Matthias Huss, a glaciologist at the Swiss Institute for Technology in Zurich, has posted dramatic snapshots of retreating glaciers and rockslides on social media to highlight the changes taking place in the Alps.
“We need to insist on communicating the urgency of climate action,” he wrote on Twitter in May.