Government Council BL Basel cantonal court largely rejects SVP appeal

The cantonal court has largely rejected an appeal by the SVP Baselland against the amendments to the decree on the Energy Act passed by the cantonal council. It partially upheld a paragraph that is now to be deleted and was intended to regulate the cantonal photovoltaic obligation for new buildings.

The Basel-Landschaft government is "delighted" that the court has upheld most of the amendments to the Energy Act decree and that these can come into force on October 1, it announced on Wednesday.

The government now wants to amend the entry into force of the energy decree. Paragraph 2a, which would have regulated the cantonal photovoltaic obligation for new buildings, is to be repealed.

The decree will therefore come into force as planned on October 1. From then on, heating systems with renewable energies may still be used in new buildings. From January 1, 2026, it will also apply to existing buildings when replacing boilers or burners if the heating system is more than 15 years old.

The popular initiative "Energy policy only with the population", which was submitted in June, is still pending. The initiative proposes deleting those provisions in the law that delegate important energy policy decisions to decree level.

The background to this request is that in October 2023, parallel to the revision of the Energy Act, the cantonal parliament passed a decree with requirements for heating buildings with renewable energy. In contrast to the revision of the law, which was approved by voters on June 9 with over 54%, the decree is not subject to a referendum.