The Climate and Innovation Act (KIG, SR 814.310) has been fully in force since 1 January 2025. Art. 3 KIG enshrines net zero by 2050 and sets interim targets for 2031–2040 and 2041–2050; sectoral milestones for buildings, transport and industry through 2030 follow under Art. 4 ff. KIG. The separately revised CO₂ Act (SR 641.71) fixes the national reduction target at –50% by 2030 relative to 1990 levels. The KIG does not directly bind companies — it contains no company-level reduction obligation. What has bound companies operationally since 1 January 2024 is the Climate Reporting Ordinance (KlimBV, SR 221.431) read together with Art. 964a–c CO; that is the only lever legal departments can pull today.

The entities in scope under Art. 964a(1) CO are companies of public interest — listed companies, banks and insurers within the meaning of Art. 727(1)(1) CO. The thresholds apply cumulatively: at least 500 full-time equivalents on a two-year average, and either a balance sheet total of at least CHF 20 million or revenue exceeding CHF 40 million. The KlimBV of 23 November 2022 sets out the reporting content required by Art. 964b CO, modelled on the TCFD recommendations: Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions must be disclosed; Scope 3 “to the extent possible and appropriate”; governance structures; and — where the company has adopted them — reduction targets and a transition pathway. Absent reduction targets, the TCFD framework requires an explanation. In practice, any company signing its 2025 climate report is laying down the baseline against which the Federal Office for the Environment will read sectoral progress under Art. 4 KIG in 2030.

A second pressure point comes from Brussels. Swiss subsidiaries of EU-regulated groups are drawn into consolidated reporting through the CSRD and standard ESRS E1 (Climate Change) — and there, a transition plan, financial climate risks and a full Scope 3 inventory are mandatory, not recommended. A company that sets a lower bar in its Swiss standalone report than in the EU consolidation writes an ISA 720-auditable inconsistency into its annual report.

Items that belong on the agenda before the next board meeting: map the 2025 Scope 1 and Scope 2 inventory against the linearly interpolated KIG pathway; prioritise Scope 3 where the parent company consolidates in full under ESRS E1; anchor the transition plan to Art. 4 KIG rather than to best-efforts language. The KlimBV itself contains no penalty provision — however, Art. 325ter of the Swiss Criminal Code criminalises both false statements and the omission of required disclosures in reporting under Art. 964a CO, with a maximum fine of CHF 100,000. Liability falls on the signing officer — as a matter of criminal law, not FINMA supervisory law.

What is settled: the obligation exists, the pathway is defined by statute, and criminal liability is live. What remains open is the ESRS alignment — the Bundesrat had announced an amendment to Art. 964a–c CO to align with the CSRD and ESRS, but on 25 June 2025 suspended that revision until no later than 1 January 2027, pending the simplification decisions under the EU Omnibus reform; the SIF has published the current status. Until the next Bundesrat decision, the existing Climate Reporting Ordinance carries the KIG pathway into the 2025 annual report — and into the dataset against which the federal government will measure the 2030 interim target.