The Swiss Federal Council has decided not to participate in the Copernicus Earth observation programme for the period of 2028 until 2034. Participation in the programme will likely be reconsidered in 2032. From the press release (DE, FR):
On 5 June 2026, the Federal Council decided that, due to the federal government’s financial situation, Switzerland would not participate in Copernicus between 2028 and 2034 either. Switzerland is already not part of the programme during the current period, which runs until the end of 2027. Thanks to the open access provided to date, Switzerland is currently able to use almost all raw data, but cannot participate in the operational services or the governing bodies. This concerns the ability to activate services, receive products in real time and contribute to their management. Furthermore, without participation, Switzerland cannot benefit from the public contracts funded by Copernicus.
The decision is surprising, as both Swiss parliamentary chambers had previously shown signs of support for Switzerland’s participation in the programme. Further, an evaluation of the programme’s benefits (pdf, in German) for Switzerland commissioned by the FOEN1 and conducted by the company Swiss Economics recommended Switzerland’s accession to the programme. From the study’s executive summary:
This (…) report shows that Switzerland’s accession to the Copernicus programme from 2028 is advisable from an economic perspective. The expected benefits – such as improved access to tenders, greater planning certainty for research andbusinesses, and more efficient environmental enforcement – are expected to significantly exceed the annual accession and implementation costs. Without accession, there is a risk in the medium term that key Swiss players will lose their standing in the European Earth observation sector. Switzerland could be excluded from important consortia, which would undermine innovation capacity, the country’s attractiveness as a business location and technology transfer.
Footnotes
The Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN; BAFU in German, OFEV in French) is the Swiss federal agency responsible for the state and development of Switzerland’s environment.↩︎