Swiss ETS is a cap-and-trade system designed largely in accordance with the same principles and rules governing its bigger brother the EU Emissions Trading System. It regulates a total of 56 CO2-intensive companies from the cement, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, refineries, steel, paper, district heating and other sectors. The newest addition to Swiss ETS are carbon emissions from certain aircraft movements.

The CO2 emissions of flights from Switzerland to European airports have been covered by the Swiss emissions trading system (CH ETS) since 1 January 2020. Similar to the EU ETS, the flights that fall under the Swiss ETS scope are Swiss domestic flights, and flights from Switzerland to the EEA. Swiss ETS emissions are counted under EU ETS for the sake of reporting. In practice, this means in case EU ETS threshold is surpassed, Swiss ETS emissions will need to be reported and offset as well. In case an operator is exempt from EU ETS and below the Swiss ETS threshold, they’re considered exempt from Swiss ETS as well.