By ratifying the Paris Climate Agreement, Switzerland undertook to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% relative to 1990 by 2030. Furthermore, the Federal Council considers sustainability to be a great opportunity for Switzerland as a competitive financial and business location.

At its meeting on 30 March 2022, the Federal Council adopted the draft of the Ordinance on Climate Reporting for Large Swiss Companiesas well as its accompanying explanatory report and initiated a consultation. According to the press release, the ordinance shall flesh out existing legal provisions on reporting on non-financial matters in the Swiss Code of Obligations.

The ordinance intends the mandatory implementation of the internationally recognised recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) for large Swiss companies. Its regulations shall be based on the benchmarks already set by the Federal Council in August 2021. The ordinance specifies duties of disclosure on non-financial matters that were introduced as part of the counterproposal to the responsible business initiative. The press release emphasises that this would be intended to promote the availability of meaningful and comparable data on climate issues and climate targets.

The consultation will run until 7 July 2022. The ordinance is expected to come into force at the beginning of the year 2023.