Insulating, switching your heating system, installing solar: these works are subsidised in Switzerland. The main scheme is called the Buildings Programme, co-financed by the Confederation and the cantons. Contrary to what circulated in 2025, it is not being abolished: Parliament kept it, with new funding from 2027 and an overhaul in 2028. Here is how it works, what is changing, and how to apply in time.
What is the Buildings Programme?
The Buildings Programme is the national support scheme for energy renovation, funded by a share of the CO₂ levy (Confederation) and by the cantons. Each canton implements it with its own rates and its own annual budget. Since 2025, an impulse programme created by the Climate and Innovation Act has complemented it, notably to replace fossil-fuel or electric heating.
It mainly supports:
- insulation of the building envelope (roof, façade, windows, floors);
- the replacement of fossil-fuel heating systems with renewable energy;
- the production of renewable energy in the building;
- comprehensive renovations and CECB / CECB Plus.
2027-2028: what the 2027 relief package changes
To relieve the federal budget, the Federal Council proposed in September 2025 to stop funding the Buildings Programme. Parliament instead adopted the cantons' compromise, approved in the final votes of 20 March 2026 (Parliament, item 25.063):
- the CO₂ levy remains capped at CHF 120 per tonne;
- the share of the levy earmarked for buildings rises from 33% to 45%;
- federal funding for buildings is capped at CHF 450 million per year, of which at most CHF 410 million goes to the joint federal-cantonal programme (the rest goes to geothermal energy and renewable gases);
- the Confederation thereby saves CHF 200 million per year.
The Greens, who had announced a referendum, dropped it on 16 March 2026. Entry into force is planned for early 2027 (EnDK, in French; canton of Aargau report, 31 March 2026, in German).
| Year | What applies |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Buildings Programme and impulse programme in their current form |
| 2027 | New funding (45% of the CO₂ levy); both programmes continue in their current form (transition year) |
| From 2028 | Merger into a "Buildings Programme 2.0"; measures set by a new joint federal-cantonal support model, with stronger prioritisation |
End of 2026: what closes in some cantons
Several cantons are closing grants or temporary bonuses at the end of the year (as of 14 October 2026):
- Jura: with the 2026 budget exhausted, energy renovation subsidies have been suspended since September, except for measures funded solely by the Confederation and the impulse programme; a waiting list is open for envelope insulation (jura.ch, in French).
- Fribourg: grants for optimising the energy use of buildings with five or more dwellings can be requested until 31 December 2026 or until the budget runs out (fr.ch, in French); the doubled grants from the cantonal building insurer (ECAB) for protection against natural hazards and fire, linked to a subsidised renovation, also run until 31 December 2026 (fr.ch, in French).
- St. Gallen: the 30% higher contributions for larger renewable heating systems (apartment and commercial buildings) apply for 2025 and 2026 (sg.ch, in German).
- Appenzell Outer-Rhodes: cantonal support for photovoltaics covers installations commissioned by 31 December 2026, with the application due by 31 December 2027 at the latest; a new programme is due to apply from 1 January 2027 at the earliest (ar.ch, in German).
Each canton's current measures and amounts are on its page: Jura, Fribourg, St. Gallen, Appenzell Outer-Rhodes.
How much can you get?
Amounts depend on the measure, the surface area concerned and the canton. Some public reference points:
| Reference point | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Paid out by the Buildings Programme in 2025 | ~CHF 516.4 million; 20,097 oil, gas or electric heating systems replaced, 82% of them by a heat pump | Confederation, 25 August 2026, in French |
| Federal funding for buildings from 2027 | at most CHF 450 million per year | EnDK |
| Comprehensive renovation (Vaud) | up to 30% of the investment | vd.ch |
| Vaud, 2026 budget | CHF 74 million (34 canton + 40 Confederation) | vd.ch, January 2026 |
| Geneva, 2026 budget | CHF 80 million (CHF 10 million more than in 2025) | SIG, 2 February 2026 |
How to apply (in the right order)
Estimate your grants
Use the subsidy calculator: an address is enough for an initial estimate of the grants available for your property.
Have a CECB drawn up (often required)
Many subsidies, particularly for a comprehensive renovation, require a cantonal building energy certificate (CECB) produced by an accredited expert. Our guide to the building energy certificate explains what it contains.
Apply BEFORE starting the works
The application must generally be submitted and approved before works begin. Starting too early can forfeit the right to the subsidy.
Apply early in the year
Cantonal budgets are limited and can run out, as in Jura in 2026. An application submitted early in the year has a better chance of being funded.
Subsidies and potential: two questions not to confuse
Subsidies answer the question 'how much will my renovation cost, once grants are deducted?'. They say nothing about what your plot allows you to build. Yet the two go together: a major energy renovation is sometimes the occasion for an added storey or an extension, which in turn depends on the zone, the utilisation index and the building envelope.
Before undertaking any works, it is therefore worth clarifying the real building potential of your property — what is confirmed, what is constrained, what remains to be checked — in order to size a coherent project rather than half-subsidising a renovation that should have been thought bigger.