Article adapted from the original source: Latest greenhouse gas inventory of Switzerland (published April 8, 2026, documents made available online April 9, 2026) and Greenhouse Gas Inventory for 2024: Slight Decrease in Emissions (press release of April 13, 2026)
Authors/Organizations: Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN/BAFU), Swiss Confederation – editor and author of the inventory (National Inventory Document 2026, series 1990-2024, submitted to the UN Climate Change Secretariat, UNFCCC). INFRAS contributed to the report for the transport section, on behalf of FOEN. No individuals are named in the press release.
Rights: © Authorities of the Swiss Confederation – all rights reserved. According to the admin.ch terms of use, content is made available to the public, but any reproduction is subject to prior written authorization from the rights holder. This article is an original analysis: factual data from the inventory are used and commented on, the quote from the FOEN spokesperson is short and attributed with a link to its source, and no text or visuals from the sources are reproduced.
Additional Sources: RTS Info (April 13, 2026, © RTS – all rights reserved) for the FOEN spokesperson’s statement on global primacy, and Le Temps / ATS (April 13, 2026, © Le Temps / ATS – all rights reserved) for sectoral details. Same rights reservations as for the main source: short attributed quote and link only.
Visual Credit: AI-generated illustration, WasteOlas Sàrl production. No visuals taken from sources.
Introduction
Switzerland emitted 40.1 million tons of CO2 equivalents (CO2-eq) in 2024, which is 27.3% less than in 1990 – but only 0.5 million tons less than in 2023. Behind this slowdown in reduction, the greenhouse gas inventory submitted by FOEN to the UNFCCC contains a historic first: industrial negative emissions are accounted for, totaling 705 tons of CO2 captured from biogas plants and permanently stored in recycled concrete. For the first time, the biogas → capture → local mineral storage chain exists in the country’s official accounts – and, according to FOEN, in no other country’s accounts before it.
A trajectory losing momentum against the 2030 target
With 40.1 million tons of CO2-eq in 2024 (compared to 40.8 in 2023 and 55.2 in 1990), Switzerland shows a -27.3% reduction compared to 1990. Including the greenhouse gas balance related to land use, the reduction is only 22.3%. However, the target enshrined in the Paris Agreement and the CO2 Act is at least -50% by 2030, and an average of -35% over the 2021-2030 period. The current pace – a gain of half a million tons in one year – leaves a considerable gap to bridge in six years, which explains the increasing regulatory pressure on hard-to-avoid emissions.
Sectoral breakdown: the easy gains are behind us
The building sector reached 8.8 million tons of CO2-eq (-47% since 1990, 22% of the total), driven by the strong growth of heat pumps. Industry emits 8.9 million tons (-33%, 22.3% of the total), with its annual decrease of 0.2 million tons mainly explained by a slight decline in cement production. Transport remains the largest emitter with 13.4 million tons (only -10% since 1990, 33.5% of the total), with the reduction primarily coming from increased use of biofuels. Other emissions total 8.9 million tons (-13%), including 6.6 million for agriculture; synthetic gases and waste management remain almost unchanged compared to 2023. Separately, international air and maritime transport accounts for 5.5 million tons, excluded from the 2030 target but included in the 2050 net-zero goal.
Two lessons for the circular economy: waste emissions no longer decrease through simple optimization, and the decarbonization of industrial processes like cement is stagnating. These are precisely the areas where CO2 capture and valorization become the only path to progress.
705 tons: a tiny figure, a major signal
The inclusion of industrial negative emissions in the inventory is the significant novelty of the 2026 vintage. The volume is still anecdotal on a national scale – 705 tons compared to 40.1 million – but its nature matters more than its size: it is biogenic CO2 captured from biogas plants, then mineralized in recycled concrete, which is exactly the type of short loop that WasteOlas advocates. What was previously a demonstrator is now an accounting line recognized by the Confederation and reported to the UN, complete with methodology, traceability, and verification. The Federal Council’s long-term climate strategy also reminds us that the development of negative emissions is essential to achieve Switzerland’s climate goals: the transition from 705 tons to hundreds of thousands of tons is now a problem of industrialization, not of principle.
A global first, not just Swiss
The scope of these 705 tons extends beyond borders. The possibility of declaring negative emissions is open to all UNFCCC signatory countries, but none had done so before Switzerland:
“To our knowledge, no other country has declared negative emissions in its greenhouse gas inventory under the Paris Agreement.” Spokesperson (Federal Office for the Environment, FOEN), remarks reported by RTS
In other words, the world’s first accounting precedent for negative emissions was created with biogenic CO2 from biogas, mineralized in recycled concrete – a decentralized, local, low-logistics intensity sector, not a megaproject of geological storage. This is a considerable positioning asset for Swiss players in local CO2 valorization: the reference methodology that other countries will adopt is being written here, on modest-sized installations.
The natural carbon sink is shrinking, demand for technical sinks is rising
The inventory highlights that land use has, in recent years, become a source of greenhouse gases, particularly due to climate change – the Swiss forest absorbs and stores less CO2 each year. This is why the reduction drops from 27.3% to 22.3% when this balance is included. Mechanically, every ton that the forest no longer sequesters will have to be offset by measurable and durable sinks: capture from biogenic sources, mineralization, industrial CO2 valorization. The market window for players capable of capturing and valorizing local CO2 is thus widening at the same pace as the weakening of the forest sink.
Conclusion: Local CO2 Valorization Moves from Laboratory to National Accounts
This inventory validates the thesis that structures WasteOlas’ developments: Swiss decarbonization will not only rely on energy efficiency, whose gains are diminishing, but on the ability to capture, valorize, and store CO2 where it is produced – biogas plants, industry, waste treatment. The first 705 tons of negative emissions from biogas, fixed in recycled concrete, are proof that the technical chain works, that it is measurable, that it is officially recognized – and that it places Switzerland at the forefront of international accounting.
The next step is a matter of scale and speed. With a gap of more than 25 points between 2024 performance and the 2030 target, Switzerland will need significantly higher volumes of captured and valorized biogenic CO2, and therefore players capable of connecting decentralized installations to real industrial outlets. This is precisely the ground WasteOlas is preparing: transforming a flow considered waste into a local, accounted-for resource, at the territorial level.