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GENEVA, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Switzerland's Energy Strategy 2050 is positive for investors and businesses looking for stability if the confederation's withdrawal from nuclear energy is underpinned by tangible policy initiatives, a World Economic Forum (WEF) expert said Thursday.
"For investors and energy companies, a clear long-term political commitment supported by effective policies will be crucial to foster the stability that is needed to drive Switzerland's energy transition," WEF's Espen Mehlum told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.
"In that sense, a 2050 strategy and intermediate milestones are positive," he added.
WEF's Global Energy Architecture Performance Index Report 2017 ranked Switzerland first out of 127 nations in terms of providing affordable, environmentally-friendly and secure energy sources.
Mehlum reminded that the landlocked country had topped the ranking for three consecutive years, a feat that underpinned Switzerland's excellent integration with European energy markets.
While scoring high across most index indicators and dimensions, the expert noted that Switzerland did particularly well when it came to energy productivity, partly due to the structure of its economy.
It also outperformed most other countries when it came to environmental sustainability, given its high reliance on "a high share of renewables and nuclear which are low emission sources of energy."
Switzerland's dependence on nuclear plants, which generate around 40 percent of the country's electricity, may stand to change in coming years.
As Mehlum reminded, the city of Berne decided to gradually phase out its nuclear energy production after the Fukushima reactor disaster in 2011.
Such a rethink of the confederation's energy landscape entails changes which transcend plans to increase its reliance on renewable energy and boost energy efficiency.
Mehlum cautioned that it also required "a total revision of the Swiss Energy Law national referendums."
A Swiss Green Party proposal to close all five of Switzerland's nuclear power plants by 2029 was rejected by 54.2 percent of voters in a federal referendum in November last year.
While committed to gradually decommissioning the country's nuclear power plants under its 2050 energy strategy, the Swiss government stood against the initiative, arguing that it would lead to a premature closing of Swiss plants.
According to Mehlum, more work is needed to match ambitious energy targets with adequate policy implementation.
"So far, progress on the ground in terms of expanding renewables has been slow and Switzerland has not yet taken a leading role in this area like for instance Germany or China," he explained. Enditem
