The transport company BLS and four university hospitals join the Exemplary Energy and Climate initiative
Bern, 24.10.2023 - The annual conference of the Confederation's Exemplary Energy and Climate (EEC) initiative is taking place today at Basel University Hospital. The highlight of the day's agenda is the accession of the transport company BLS and the university hospitals of Basel, Bern, Geneva and Lausanne to the initiative. In the presence of Federal Councillor Albert Rösti and Kaspar Sutter, State Councillor of the Canton of Basel-Stadt, the participants will celebrate the signature of a declaration of intent, in which they set themselves energy and climate targets and commit to implementing specific measures. The EEC initiative's Energy and Climate Report for the reporting year 2022 has also been published today.
After intensive preparations, BLS has today announced its accession to the EEC initiative. Over the last few months, it has drawn up a sustainable development strategy, including climate and energy targets, and carried out a complete assessment of its greenhouse gas emissions, including the upstream and downstream value chain. On this basis, specific measures have been defined to improve energy efficiency, implement the first stages of the circular economy, adapt business to climate change and improve transparency in supply chains.
The accession of the university hospitals of Basel, Bern, Geneva and Lausanne to the initiative was already announced in February and will also officially take place at today's event. In recent months, the hospitals have defined their 2030 targets and how they will be monitored. Over the coming years, they will implement individual measures in the areas of medical equipment, procurement, and food and waste, including reducing the electricity consumption of large radiological equipment and promoting climate-friendly catering.
Today also sees the publication of the EEC's Energy and Climate Report 2022, in which EEC participants report on their progress. As the report shows, developments in the last year were marked as much by the end of the COVID-19 pandemic as by fears of an energy shortage and a warm winter. In the year under review, the participants carried out energy retrofits on 91,000m2 of energy reference area, which is the equivalent of around 130 small apartment buildings each with ten one to three-bedroom flats. In 2022, they consumed around 6,450 GWh of final energy, of which 4,200 GWh (around 65%) came from renewable sources.
Quotes
"The heterogeneity of the BLS, with mobility by rail, bus and ship, offers numerous opportunities to improve energy and resource efficiency. As part of the new and comprehensive sustainability strategy, and by joining the EEC initiative, we want to tap into this potential to the full over the long term."
Daniel Schafer, CEO, BLS
"In hospitals, large medical equipment - such as MRI machines - consume an enormous amount of energy. Medical products and catering also cause many indirect emissions, which is why we've decided to tackle these issues at all four teaching hospitals."
Dr Werner Kübler, Director, Basel University Hospital
"Protecting the climate also means protecting health. As one of Switzerland's largest healthcare systems, we have a duty to live up to our responsibilities. That's why the Insel Group is part of the Energy and Climate Exemplary initiative."
Dr (h.c.) Uwe E. Jocham, Chief Executive Officer, Insel Group, Bern
"Healthcare establishments have a social and environmental responsibility to the public that they now must fully face up to. Today, our commitment to reducing our ecological footprint goes hand in hand with our commitment to health."
Prof. Nicolas Demartines, CEO, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne
"The University Hospitals of Geneva have committed to moving towards climate neutrality in their hospital activities and to adopting a climate plan with targets for 2030 and 2050 in order to reduce their direct and indirect emissions. They were also the initiators of the Geneva Sustainability Centre, which is supported by the International Hospital Federation (IHF). We are delighted to be working with the other hospitals towards this common shared goal."
Bertrand Levrat, Director-General, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva
About the initiative
As part of the Exemplary Energy and Climate (EEC) initiative, providers of publicly relevant services and institutional investors are contributing to the Energy Strategy 2050 and the 2015 Paris Agreement. The focus of the EEC is on energy efficiency, renewable energies and, as a new field of action, climate-friendly financial flows.
The providers of publicly relevant services are pursuing individual targets up to 2026 and 2030 for energy efficiency, ecological electricity production, renewable heating and cooling, and renewable fuels. In principle, the goal is for the share of electricity from renewable sources to be 100 per cent for all these providers by 2026. In order to reach these targets, these participants are implementing 15 joint measures and a number of individual measures.
The institutional investors are setting themselves targets to make investments compatible with the Paris Agreement. To achieve this, the participating pension funds and insurance companies are calling on companies in which they invest to adopt climate-friendly behaviour. They are also continuously reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of the directly held real estate in their portfolio.
All participants communicate transparently on the achievement of their targets and share their experiences so that other companies and organisations can use this information as a guide.
The following are participants in the EEC initiative: BLS, 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, University hospitals and Zurich Airport Ltd.
Information for media professionals
You can find further information at https://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.
Address for enquiries
SFOE Media Office, 058 460 81 52, media@bfe.admin.ch
Stefanie Reding, Head of Exemplary Energy and Climate Secretariat, 058 467 88 54,
stefanie.reding@bfe.admin.ch
Publisher
Swiss Federal Office of Energy
http://www.bfe.admin.ch
General Secretariat of the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications; General Secretariat DETEC
https://www.uvek.admin.ch/uvek/en/home.html
