The 43,000 employees of the university hospitals of Basel, Bern, Lausanne and Geneva together provide more than four million outpatient consultations a year and treat around 200,000 inpatients using the latest therapeutic methods. In addition to human and financial resources, these services also require a considerable amount of energy: the annual energy consumption (electricity and heat) of the four university hospitals amounts to 475GWh - which roughly corresponds to that of a city with around 25,000 inhabitants such as Montreux or Rapperswil-Jona.

Now the university hospitals have announced that they will participate in the Exemplary Energy and Climate initiative, beginning with an official event in autumn.

Until then, the university hospitals will develop an energy monitoring system and determine targets and specific measures on this basis. These are intended to increase energy efficiency and help switch to renewable energies in order to further reduce carbon emissions beyond their previous commitment. The initiative typically includes measures such as the introduction of a central energy management system and the procurement of energy-efficient technology.

About the initiative

As part of the Confederation's Exemplary Energy and Climate initiative, 18 important Swiss providers of publicly relevant services are contributing to the Energy Strategy 2050 and the 2015 Paris Agreement. The focus is on energy efficiency, renewable energies and, as a new field of action, climate-friendly financial flows.

In the cross-sector field of action energy and climate, the participants are pursuing individual targets up to 2026 and 2030 for energy efficiency, ecological electricity production, renewable heating and cooling and renewable fuels. The goal is for the share of electricity from renewable sources to be 100 percent for all participants by 2026.

In the field of action climate-friendly financial flows, the participants are setting themselves targets to make investments compatible with the Paris Agreement. Among other things, this includes companies being called on to operate in a more climate-friendly way by the participating pension funds and insurance companies that invest in them. They are also continuously reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of the directly held real estate in their portfolio.

The participants report transparently on their target achievement and share their experiences so that other companies and organisations can use this information as a guide.

The following participants are included in the initiative: the Canton of Geneva, the Civil Federal Administration, the ETH Domain, the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS), Genève Aéroport, PostBus, PostFinance, PUBLICA, RUAG MRO Holding Ltd, SBB, the SBB Pension Fund, SIG, Skyguide, SRG SSR, Suva, Swisscom, Swiss Post and Zurich Airport Ltd.

Information for media professionals

You can find further information at www.vorbild-energie-klima.admin.ch/vbe/en/home.html. We will be happy to provide you with high-resolution image material, where necessary, and arrange interviews with the participants involved.

University hospitals commit to energy and climate targets