Timeline 1990 - 2004 for the Swiss carbon footprint
The national greenhouse gas inventory prepared according to the guidelines of the Climate Convention only takes domestic emissions into account. To obtain a realistic picture of Switzerland's contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions, the emissions originating outside her national boundaries – so-called 'embodied' emissions – have been quantified in a systematic way for a first time.
Compared to other countries Switzerland has low per-capita emissions of greenhouse gases because only domestic emissions are considered. In order to get a realistic view on the emissions caused by Swiss consumption patterns, embodied emissions due to imports and exports of goods and services are quantified in this study for the years 1990 to 2004. The calculation is based on foreign trade statistics and life cycle assessment studies. Considering the embodied emissions due to imports and exports the total greenhouse gas emissions are quantified to be 12.5 tonnes CO2-equivalents (10.7 tonnes CO2) per capita. Only 7.2 tonnes CO2-equivalents (6.0 tonnes CO2) out of this are domestic emissions.
Authors: Niels Jungbluth, Roland Steiner, Rolf Frischknecht
