Swiss energy needs rely on foreign imports this week

Switzerland imports 70% of its energy, it was 81% in 2005 Keystone-SDA

Switzerland will cease to produce enough domestic energy to meet its needs from Saturday, according to a study by the Swiss Energy Foundation (SES).

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The study describes the high level of dependency of Switzerland, which imports more than 70% of its energy from other countries.

Domestic resources are only sufficient to cover Switzerland’s energy needs until 19 April, a date that symbolises the ‘Overshoot Day’, SES wrote in a note today. After that day, the country will be entirely dependent on oil, gas or nuclear fuel (uranium) from abroad.

With an estimated energy independence rate of 29.6% in 2025, Switzerland is on a par with other European countries. Over the past 20 years, Switzerland’s dependency has decreased slightly, as the indepence rate was no higher than 18.8% in 2005.

At the top of the energy independence ranking is Estonia, with a rate of over 98%. At the other end of the scale, Belgium, Cyprus and Malta record rates of 10% or less. France stands at 16.6% and Germany at 30.2%.

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Transit through the EU

Switzerland spends on average almost CHF8 billion per year on energy imports. In 2023, most of these imports – over 87% – came from an EU state. But beware, warns SES: with the exception of electricity, EU countries essentially play a transit role. They are only marginally involved in the production of imported energy sources.

Most of the fossil and nuclear energy imported into Switzerland via the EU comes from the Middle East, western Asia, the former Soviet Union, the United States, Norway and the United Kingdom. The nuclear fuel rods used in Switzerland, for example, still contain a significant proportion of uranium of Russian origin.

SES supports the development of renewable energies to strengthen Switzerland’s energy autonomy. Léonore Hälg, Head of Climate and Renewable Energy at the Foundation, believes that “the EU will remain a key trading partner for energy, in the future in the form of renewable electricity produced locally in member countries. The electricity agreement will play a decisive role.”

Translated from German by DeepL/mga

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