Jour
nal
No. 4
2026
The KliK Journal provides articles and interviews on the KliK Foundation’s national and international activities, in addition to the annual report.
Arduous but necessary quality assurance
In last year’s edition of our journal, I used this space to complain about the extremely lengthy procedure for the authorisation of climate protection activities in accordance with Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement (A6.2). I expressed the fear that this, in combination with the short period of time left until 2030 to finance the projects through the sale of certificates, would mean that activities already on the starting blocks could no longer be realised.
This danger has by no means been averted, but it’s worth noting that considerable progress has been made in the authorisation process over the past 12 months. A concentrated effort on the part of the Swiss federal administration, which will continue until at least the end of this year, has led to an improvement in processes. Furthermore, the first authorisations of certain types of activities have now taken place, and these have basically clarified which requirements must be met in each case according to the legal provisions of Switzerland. This paves the way for other activities and significantly shortens their authorisation process.
As authorisation is the decisive step on the way to implementing a climate protection activity in accordance with A6.2, in this fourth issue of our journal we take a detailed look at the requirements and processes involved in authorisation. The authorisation process is the key tool for ensuring the highest, independently audited quality standards with regard to the emission reductions that are to be achieved through climate protection activities in the partner countries. It is therefore understandable that private investors only start implementing their climate protection activities once the authorisation has clarified any uncertainty regarding the crediting of emission reductions, even though they are allowed to start implementation three months before the authorisation application.
In order for the KliK Foundation to fulfil its legal mandate, we are dependent on functioning processes at the government agencies involved, as the examples in this journal demonstrate. Unfortunately, we are repeatedly faced with surprises on the part of partner countries that lead to delays in authorisation, whether due to ambiguities in national regulation or political disputes. The Foundation tries to cushion the consequences of such unpleasant surprises by developing far more activities in partner countries than would be necessary to fulfil the carbon offset obligation.
From 2025 to 2030, the Foundation must be able to provide attestations to prove reductions of around 30 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (CO₂e). It assumes that, instead of the required third, a good half of the measures will take place in Switzerland, with the rest in partner countries, which underlines the importance of the climate protection activities implemented in Switzerland for the fulfilment of the carbon offset obligation. In this issue of our journal, we focus on the significant contribution that district heating projects make in this context.
I hope you enjoy reading our KliK Journal No. 4.
Managing Director of the Foundation for Climate Protection and Carbon Offset KliK
Inter
natio
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Switzerland uses Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement (A6.2) to promote climate protection together with partner countries. Strict regulations ensure the highest, independently audited quality standards, in addition to which, each projected mitigation measure must also be independently reviewed and then authorised bilaterally (by both countries). The following article explains both the authorisation process and the consequences of its complexity for the development of measures to combat climate change.
Na
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The KliK Foundation’s supported programme for heating networks provides support for operators of such networks that use energy carriers from renewable sources or waste heat. In view of the limited funding horizon of 2030, the application deadline for new projects ended on 31 December last year. The expectation is that around one million tonnes of CO₂ will be saved by the end of the funding period. On the following pages, we take a look at past and ongoing achievements as well as three exciting project examples from a successful supported programme with a broad technological scope that operates throughout Switzerland.
A(ttra)ctive Swiss supported programmes
The KliK Foundation continues to support investments in projects that demonstrably reduce greenhouse gas emissions, are economically viable thanks to the funding, and can be operated in the long term. In 2025, around two million tonnes of CO₂e were reduced in this country thanks to support measures in the areas of transport, businesses, buildings and agriculture, as well as individual projects (as of June 2026). This is roughly equivalent to the emissions that would theoretically be produced if all registered cars with combustion engines in the canton of Zurich (around 627,000 vehicles) travelled around 12,000 kilometres per year – or if all these vehicles drove from Zurich to Cape Town.
Through the supported programme for mobile pellet heaters, the KliK Foundation enables the use of climate-friendly mobile pellet heating systems at marketable conditions. Mobile heating systems are used, for example, to ensure a pleasant climate and optimum structural drying on building sites, while in the events sector they keep tents at the right temperature, and in agriculture they are used for drying hay. In locations that are not thermally insulated or are situated outdoors, a lot of fuel is required to generate the necessary heating energy. Since mobile heaters usually run on oil, they generate high CO₂ emissions: throughout Switzerland, it is estimated that several hundred thousand tonnes of CO₂ are released in this way every year. Mobile heaters fuelled by wood pellets, meanwhile, are a climate-friendly alternative to conventional appliances.
A third of all CO₂ emissions in Switzerland come from the building sector. The supported programme for ECCO2 heating control helps property owners who want to switch to renewable energies or are planning renovation work, offering them optimisation solutions for fossil heating systems. Switching to renewable heating systems may require substantial investment – and this is where the ECCO2 solution has a major impact with limited investment and a short implementation time. The principle: in every heated residential or office unit, sensors measure the temperature, humidity and CO₂ concentration and transmit the data digitally to ECCO2. The AI-supported system analyses this along with weather data and creates a profile for each building for parameters such as location or sunlight. The result is dynamic, intelligent and predictive control of heating requirements.
A major advantage of greenhouses over open-air cultivation – in addition to weather protection and uniform plant growth – is, first and foremost, extension of the vegetation period through heating. The requisite heat comes largely from burning fossil energy carriers such as natural gas, heating oil or propane gas. The greenhouse heating programme run by myclimate and financed by the KliK Foundation promotes conversion to heating with wood-fired systems or heat pumps. Those set to benefit are greenhouse businesses in Switzerland that register their planned conversion project with the supported programme by 31 July 2027 and receive a building permit by 31 December 2027.
Here you will find the right support for your planned mitigation activities:
Facts
and
figures
How many million tonnes of CO₂ have already been saved in Switzerland since the foundation of the KliK foundation? With how many countries there exists currently a bilateral agreement on climate protection? Discover selected facts and figures to get you in the mood for the annual report.
16 countries currently have a bilateral climate protection agreement with Switzerland (listed here by signing date). Emission reductions can be credited to Switzerland if the corresponding climate protection activities supplement the measures in the partner country and thus enhance their ambitions.
Contractually expected defined impact from mitigation activities in million tonnes CO₂e between 2025 and 2030 (as of the end of 2025).
Approximately 2,500 gigawatt-hours are fed into the electricity grid by BESS (Battery Energy Storage Systems) activities in Chile (nine individual projects by four companies, as of June 2026) each year – roughly equivalent to the annual consumption of the city of Zurich.
Swiss francs in subsidies paid out under the Heating Networks programme since its launch up to 2030.
must be reduced in 2026 (compared to 23% in 2024 and 25% in 2025). At least 12% must be generated domestically in the years 2025–2030.
Almost 19 million tonnes CO₂e have been reduced in Switzerland since 2013 with the support of the KliK Foundation.
Average costs in Swiss francs for every reduced tonne of CO₂e between 2025 and 2030.
The KliK Foundation – looking back and looking forward
The KliK Foundation acts on behalf of the importers of fossil motor fuels to fulfil their legal obligation in Switzerland to offset a certain amount of the greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector. According to the CO₂ Act, they must initially offset a quarter of these emissions by 2025 and then gradually work up to half by 2030. Carbon offset must take place through the financing of projects in Switzerland and abroad that demonstrably reduce a corresponding amount of greenhouse gas emissions.
For 2024, the KliK Foundation once again only presented emission reductions achieved in Switzerland to fulfil its carbon offset obligation, although it could have fulfilled a good third of the obligation with projects abroad. However, at the end of 2025 the Foundation only had 13,376 ITMOs (Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes), which it decided to keep for the time being. The national attestations submitted came from hundreds of larger and smaller projects across all sectors, including the replacement of fossil energy carriers with renewable sources in district heating systems, which we have reported on in more detail in this issue.
Thanks to the ongoing impact of these projects, the KliK Foundation will easily be able to demonstrate the emission reduction of 10 million tonnes of CO₂e that is required in Switzerland between 2025 and 2030. We currently assume (in April 2026) that more than half of the required total emission reduction of 30 million tonnes of CO₂e can be achieved in Switzerland.
Of the 270 international activities analysed by the KliK Foundation since 2019, 70 are currently in various stages of development. For all 70, an application for authorisation is expected to be submitted to Switzerland and the partner country concerned. Fifteen activities have already been authorised, while applications are being processed for a further 22, and applications for the others will be submitted during the course of the year. The authorities involved therefore still have an immense task on their hands. The Foundation has concluded a contract for the acceptance of ITMOs with 32 activities, and it has a preliminary agreement, known as a term sheet, for such a contract with a further 37 activities. This means that the Foundation’s secretariat likewise has a lot of work to do this year.
As before, the KliK Foundation will support applicants in submitting high-quality documentation in accordance with the regulatory requirements and will answer any questions promptly and precisely. With the growing number of authorisations, the focus of our activities is increasingly shifting to supporting the implementation of the various climate protection activities in the partner countries.