On 18 June 2023, the people of Vaud voted on a popular initiative from the Greens and Young Greens seeking to enshrine the protection of the climate and biodiversity in the cantonal constitution. The text required the canton and municipalities to significantly reduce the negative climate impacts of each of their policies, with the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.
The stakes went beyond a symbolic gesture. By writing a climate target into the canton's fundamental law, the initiative aimed to bind the authorities lastingly, requiring them to weigh their decisions — planning, energy, transport, finance — against their carbon footprint. The cantonal government and parliament recommended a yes.
The backdrop was a French-speaking Switzerland where the climate question has shaped debate since the mass mobilisations of 2019. Vaud thus joined the handful of cantons that chose to constitutionalise their climate ambition, in a political climate where only the SVP campaigned against the measure.
▲ Yes — 62.7% 117,178 votes to enshrine the climate in the constitution. Clear backing in the cities and along the Lake Geneva arc. | ▼ No — 37.3% 65,354 votes against. Cantonal turnout of 41.68%, average for a mid-term ballot. |
The forces at play
▲ Yes camp • Vaud Greens and Young Greens — authors of the initiative • Cantonal government unanimously recommending a yes • Cantonal parliament PS–Greens–Centre majority • FDP Vaud free vote, no recommendation | ▼ No camp • SVP Vaud — the only party to fight the text • Opposing circles fearing extra costs for households and firms |
Arguments and verdicts
▲ Arguments FOR (Yes camp) A constitutional anchor commits public action for the long term ✓~ Partly borne out. Since the vote the canton has launched the promised implementation: a new energy law was tabled in late 2023 and the cantonal climate plan now rests on this basis. The article did serve as a reference, even if its legal scope remains programmatic. Source : RTS / Le Temps, June 2023 Setting carbon neutrality 2050 as a cantonal target ✓~ Target enshrined, effects deferred. The 2050 horizon now features in the Vaud constitution. Its concrete translation depends on implementing laws, the first of which — the energy law revision — was expected from late 2023. Source : Cantonal booklet, 18 June 2023 vote | ▼ Arguments AGAINST (No camp) "Everyone's wallet will be the main victim" « The wallet of each of us is the main victim of accepting the climate protection initiative » ✗~ Not confirmed so far. Two years on, no direct tax rise attributable to the constitutional article alone has been documented. The cost debate has shifted to the implementing laws, notably the energy law, where it remains open. Source : SVP Vaud, quoted by 24 heures / RTS, June 2023 A constitutional article stays largely symbolic ✓~ Partly accurate. The provision is above all programmatic: without binding implementing laws, the concrete effect remains limited. That is precisely the stake of the legislative revisions launched since 2023. Source : Cantonal legal analyses, 2023 |
The verdict, two years on
With about two years' hindsight, enshrining the climate in the Vaud constitution mainly had upstream effects: it legitimised a wave of legislative revisions whose concrete results are yet to be measured.
62.7% yes to enshrining the climate | 2050 carbon-neutrality horizon | late 2023 new energy law tabled | 1 party only the SVP fought the text |
The 62.7% yes confirms that climate concern is firmly embedded in the Vaud electorate, well beyond the green core. Backed by the cantonal government and a broad coalition, the text drew only one partisan opponent, the SVP.
Yet the text's reach remains programmatic: a constitutional article sets a course, it does not decarbonise a canton on its own. Its strength is first political — it now makes it harder for any future majority to push climate down the list of cantonal trade-offs.
The real test will come in the implementing laws. The energy law revision, tabled from late 2023, is the first concrete milestone; that is where the costs and effects both camps invoked during the campaign will be measured.