Which climate-related risks must be anticipated by actors of development cooperation in the coming one to three years? For the third time, INFRAS has identified regional and global hotspots of climate risks and summarized key developments for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). 

Towards which of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals is the EU making progress and where is it lagging behind? The Vienna University of Economics and Business, the Ecologic Institute and INFRAS have been examining development within the EU on an annual basis since 2016. The 2023 Eurostat Monitoring Report looks at the impact of the coronavirus pandemic for the first time. 

Electric vehicles are on the rise. It is for this exact reason that pertinent questions keep popping up about the batteries of electric vehicles. On behalf of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, and together with the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, INFRAS has prepared a background document to answer these questions. It has a modular structure and addresses the life cycle of a battery, from raw material extraction to disposal. 

With an increasing number of electric vehicles on the road, mineral oil tax is generating less income. The Federal Council wants to offset this by introducing a compensation levy on electric vehicles. The Swiss Confederation tasked INFRAS, alongside Ecoplan and TCS, to put together a tariff model for this levy.

When it comes to energy efficiency and expanding the use of renewable energies, electricity, heat and gas suppliers play an important role. The latest energy company benchmarking analysis shows where energy companies have already done a great deal – and where a fair bit can still be done. 

Corporate objective: become climate neutral. To achieve this, companies also have to start looking at their vehicle fleet. And when it comes to heavy duty vehicles in particular, this raises some questions: What drive system is the future? How is the total cost of drive technologies changing? INFRAS created an analysis with a roadmap until 2040 for a large logistics company. 

Few journeys, but plenty of kilometres: nearly half of Germany’s transport is used for long-distance travel. As a result, this behaviour is difficult to change for the benefit of the environment, as highlighted by a study conducted on behalf of the German Environment Agency (UBA) by a consortium including INFRAS.

The proportion of electric cars on Swiss roads is expected to continue to rise. To enable this, the canton of Zurich is planning to massively expand its charging infrastructure. INFRAS developed the design of a funding programme on behalf of the cantonal Office of Mobility and Transport.

Which greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions do various vehicle categories cause and how high are a country’s average road traffic emissions? The Handbook Emission Factors for Road Transport (HBEFA) that INFRAS developed provides answers and data.