Switzerland has named a new director of its Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), the agency that oversees the Swiss emissions trading scheme, it announced on Wednesday.

Marc Chardonnens, an agricultural engineer, will from April take the helm of the FOEN, the government said in a statement.

With that role Chardonnens will be responsible for, amongst other things, supervising the operation of the Swiss ETS, developing and implementing new carbon-cutting measures stemming from the Paris Agreement, and representing Switzerland at future international climate negotiations at the sub-ministerial level.

Chardonnens takes over from Bruno Oberle, who headed FOEN since 2005 but left late last year to take a professor role at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne.

In the interim, FOEN’s acting assistant director Christine Hofmann will run the agency, the government said.

Chardonnens will also presumably play a pivotal role in finalising work towards linking the Swiss ETS with the EU’s carbon market, following the recent completion of years-long negotiations over the matter.

By Mike Szabo – mike@carbon-pulse.com