The current target values and sanctions
Switzerland follows EU Regulation 2019/631 (formerly 443/2009). For vehicles placed on the market for the first time, these fleet target values apply under Art. 10 of the CO₂ Act (WLTP):
- Passenger cars 2025–2029: 93.6 g CO₂/km, from 2030: 49.5 g CO₂/km
- Light commercial vehicles 2025–2029: 153.9 g CO₂/km, from 2030: 90.6 g CO₂/km
- Heavy vehicles (covered for the first time since 2025): −15 % versus the EU reference period 2019/20, from 2030: −30 %
- Sanction for exceeding: CHF 95 per g CO₂/km (as of 2026); the statutory range is CHF 95–152, set annually by DETEC (Art. 13 CO₂ Act)
Who is affected?
Importers and Swiss manufacturers of vehicles placed on the market for the first time (Art. 17 CO₂ Ordinance). First placement on the market means the first registration in Switzerland, in a customs exclusion zone or in Liechtenstein. Exempt are vehicles registered abroad more than 12 months before the customs declaration – or more than 6 months with at least 5'000 km (Art. 17d CO₂ Ordinance).
Terminology: “CO₂ levy” is colloquial
In the law, the payment on vehicle imports is called a “sanction for exceeding the individual target value” (Art. 13 CO₂ Act). The statutory “CO₂ levy” in the narrow sense is the incentive levy on fossil fuels such as heating oil and natural gas (since 2008). In everyday car-import practice – and on this website – “CO₂ levy” has become the established term for the vehicle sanction.
Goal: reduction of all greenhouse gases
The ordinance covers more than CO₂: all greenhouse gases are converted into CO₂ equivalents (CO₂eq) (Annex 1 CO₂ Ordinance), including methane (factor 25), nitrous oxide (298), fluorinated hydrocarbons (up to 14'800) and sulphur hexafluoride (22'800).
What the ordinance enables importers to do
Besides the obligations, the CO₂ Ordinance also defines room for manoeuvre:
- Small or large importer status by fleet size (from 50 passenger cars, 6 light commercial vehicles or 2 heavy vehicles per year you count as a large importer; Art. 18)
- Fleet settlement: large importers settle annually across the fleet instead of per individual vehicle
- Emission pools for 1–5 years (application to the SFOE by 31 December of the previous year, Art. 22)
- Assignment of the CO₂ burden to another company – the basis of our CO₂ pool
- Crediting of foreign emission-reduction certificates (Art. 4/4a, recognition by the FOEN)
The road to today's CO₂ Act
The key milestones of Swiss climate legislation for vehicles:
- 1992: UN Framework Convention on Climate Change · 1997: Kyoto Protocol
- 2000: first CO₂ Act with binding reduction targets · 2008: CO₂ levy on fuels
- 2012: CO₂ Ordinance and target value of 130 g/km for passenger cars (from 2020: 95 g/km NEDC; light commercial vehicles from 2020: 147 g/km)
- 2015: Paris Agreement
- 2025: total revision – WLTP target values 93.6/153.9 g/km, inversion of the target-value line, heavy vehicles covered for the first time
- 2026: partial revision – the decisive figure for weight classification is now the manufacturer's technically permissible maximum weight
Outlook: what happened in Parliament
A parliamentary initiative (25.481) demanded that the 2025–2027 target values could be met as a three-year average instead of annually – analogous to the EU rule in force since July 2025. The initiative was abandoned in 2026; annual compliance with the target values remains. We will keep you informed as soon as the legal situation changes.