Defining deep decarbonization pathways for Switzerland: An economic evaluation based on the computable general equilibrium model GEMINI-E3

This paper presents the Swiss contribution to the Deep Decarbonization Pathways (DDP) project which is an international collaborative initiative aiming at understanding and showing how individual countries might define a roadmap paving the way to reaching a low carbon economy and how the world can keep global mean temperature increase below 2°C. The Swiss analysis relies on macro-economic simulations of GEMINI-E3, a computable general equilibrium model used to assess the energy and economic impacts of a Swiss low carbon society. The DDP scenarios assume a CO2 emissions target of 1 ton per Swiss inhabitant following the Swiss climate target which represents a 76% abatement with respect to 1990 levels. The paper discusses several options/scenarios compatible with this emissions target that appears to be quite challenging. The scenarios are compared to a reference scenario which assumes that Switzerland will reach a 20% reduction of CO2 emissions relative to 1990 levels, using instruments that have already been defined (buildings refurbishment program, regulation on CO2 emission for new cars, CO2 tax on stationary fuels, Swiss ETS market).