Sustainable building follows cantonal regulations
The Ukraine war and its consequences have brought the dependence on fossil fuels home to us. An essential component of a future-oriented energy policy is sustainability in construction.
Due to the constitutional responsibility of the cantons, there are different regulations in this area throughout Switzerland. For this reason, the Conference of Cantonal Energy Directors (EnDK) has adopted the Model Cantonal Energy Regulations (MuKEn) of 2014, which aim at the greatest possible harmonisation and thus simplification of construction planning and the corresponding approval procedures.
We have analysed how close the implementation of selected cantonal sustainability regulations are according to MuKEn. The complete analysis can be downloaded here. The evaluation shows: Basel-City, Lucerne, Jura and Fribourg orient their energy legislation relatively closely to the model regulations and in some cases even go beyond them. At the other end are Aargau, Uri and Zug, where corresponding implementation is in the planning stage, and Solothurn, which will have the fewest regulations in the foreseeable future.
The setting: cantonal responsibility, intercantonal coordination
According to the Federal Constitution, energy policy in the building sector is the responsibility of the cantons. They are thus empowered to define and implement their own energy and climate policy goals within the framework of federal law.
This allocation of tasks makes perfect sense: cantonal authorities are very familiar with the infrastructure, the population and the sensitivities of their region. They can thus plan and implement building law measures in an appropriate, efficient and broadly supported manner.
However, the result is also a structure of different regimes with different characteristics and emphases. This sometimes causes confusion among real estate players operating on a supra-regional level. Since economies of scale are made more difficult, the federalist division of roles leads to efficiency losses.
Politicians have also understood this. In the competent cantonal conferences, the responsible cantonal councillors and experts therefore develop and coordinate common energy and climate policy goals and strategies, which they laid down, for example, in the already mentioned MuKEn 2014.
Detailed information at https://www.wuestpartner.com/ch-de/2023/03/24/nachhaltiges-bauen-folgt-kantonalen-regelungen/