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<\/p>\nIs Switzerland adequately preparing for the effects of climate change, or is it lagging behind other countries? A Swissinfo reader posed the question, and we went looking for answers.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
This content was published on <\/p>\n
August 31, 2026 – 09:56\n<\/p>\n
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\n I cover climate and sustainability topics with a data-driven perspective. Trained as a journalist but working as a data scientist, I combine storytelling with analysis to uncover the facts behind Switzerland\u2019s green transition. At SWI swissinfo.ch, I focus on how climate change affects daily life and what solutions can make a difference. <\/p>\n
\n My work focuses on engaging with you, our audience, and strengthening trust in our journalism. I develop engagement tools such as multilingual debates and help distribute our content to users across platforms. Switzerland has just experienced its hottest summer since records began in 1864. The city of Basel registered more days above 30\u00b0C than in all of 2003, a historically hot year, and almost a third of MeteoSwiss\u2019s 149 stations recorded their highest temperature ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n Against that backdrop, critics say that Switzerland is ill prepared for climate change, is resistant to measures such as air conditioning, and lags behind neighbouring countries.\u00a0<\/p>\n Addressing readers\u2019 questions about rumours in Switzerland\u00a0 <\/p>\n This article answers a question from a Swissinfo reader. Have you heard a rumour about Switzerland you would like us to fact-check? Get in touch hereExternal link<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Emissions reduction versus adaptation\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0Climate policy has two parts: mitigation to cut carbon emissions and adaptation to prepare for climate change\u2019s impacts on society.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Switzerland, criticism usually targets the first. This summer, Environment Minister Albert R\u00f6sti said<\/a> that it will be difficult to meet Switzerland\u2019s climate target of halving emissions by 2030, blaming federal government budget cuts. A significant share of Switzerland\u2019s emissions reductions relies on offsetting emissions abroad through carbon credits rather than making those cuts at home. It\u2019s an approach that environmental groups have criticised for years. \u00a0<\/p>\n The European Court of Human Rights also ruled that Switzerland is not doing enough to curb climate change at home in its landmark \u00a02024 ruling.\u00a0<\/p>\n And an international climate ranking last year \u2013 the Climate Change Performance Index \u2013 placed Switzerland 26th out of 63 countries and gave it a low score for its national climate policy. The index is based on emissions, renewables and energy use but has no indicator to show how well countries are adapting to climate change.\u00a0<\/p>\n What Switzerland has built to adapt to climate change\u00a0<\/p>\n The Swiss government launched a national climate change adaptation strategy in 2012. A large share of annual funds is attributed to adapting to natural hazards, where Switzerland has decades of experience: around CHF2.9 billion ($3.6 billion) a year, roughly 0.6% of GDP, with hazard maps covering over 90% of settled areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n The system was put to the test last year. On May 28, the Birch Glacier in the L\u00f6tschental valley collapsed under the weight of rockfalls from the crumbling Kleines Nesthorn mountain, burying the village of Blatten beneath nine million cubic metres of rock, mud and ice. The mountain had been closely monitored for years, and some 300 residents were evacuated in advance. One person died, a shepherd who had returned to an area just outside the evacuation zone. \u00a0<\/p>\n The status of heat mitigation plans\u00a0<\/p>\n After roughly 1,000 more people died than expected during the 2003 heatwave, cantons in French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino launched heat action plans. Others parts of Switzerland did not. Researchers from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute later compared eight cities. In the five without heat action plans, the link between temperature and mortality did not change after 2003. In the three that had them, including Geneva, heat-related mortality risk fell noticeably.\u00a0<\/p>\n Only eight ofSwitzerland\u2019s 26 cantons have a heat action plan that meets World Health Organization standards, and the support available elsewhere varies widely. Geneva conducts daily welfare checks on registered vulnerable residents during heatwaves and offers elderly residents free tickets to air-conditioned cinemas and swimming pools.\u00a0<\/p>\n A nationwide heat action plan is currently difficult to implement. Such plans are a cantonal responsibility, and the federal government can only issue recommendations, Martina Ragettli of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute told Swiss public broadcaster SRF in August.\u00a0<\/p>\n Heat kills more people in Switzerland than any other natural hazard, Ragettli says, far more than avalanches, landslides or floods. In the last week of June alone, 175 more people aged over-65 died than expected, according to the Federal Statistical Office. \u00a0<\/p>\n Why is air conditioning so hard to install?\u00a0<\/p>\n Air conditioning is not banned anywhere in Switzerland. Mobile units need no permit. Fixed systems require approval and must meet cantonal energy and noise standards. Buildings must also be \u00a0 protected against summer heat first, usually with external shading, before permits can be considered for cooling systems. The aim is to prevent owners from cooling badly built flats instead of fixing them. However, requests to install cooling systems are rarely rejected. Zurich\u2019s cantonal government said in 2025 that it believed such refusals to be few, and around 20,000 units are installed in the canton each year. \u00a0<\/p>\n Is Switzerland lagging behind its neighbours when it comes to climate adaptation?\u00a0<\/p>\n By standard benchmarks, no. The European Environment Agency (EEA) lists Switzerland as having both an adopted adaptation strategy and a national action plan. It says it is one of only three countries with federal climate legislation that has adaptation provisions. Germany\u2019s adaptation act requires measurable targets and monitoring, and France\u2019s latest plan prepares explicitly for four degrees of warming by 2100. Switzerland has strategies, not binding targets. Its revised strategy, promised for the end of 2025, is still described as \u201cunder revision\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n Water is the bigger issue. This summer, more than 190 municipalities asked residents to restrict water use. Switzerland did not run out of water; it is just spread unevenly. Vincent Humphrey of MeteoSwiss told Swissinfo<\/a> that the heavily populated central Plateau region as well as the Prealps and the Jura are unfamiliar with managing water shortages or conflicts. A national early-warning system launched in 2025 works well, but a national water management strategy is not due before the end of 2027, and there is no centralised measurement of how much water Swiss agriculture and industry use. EU countries built measurement systems 25 years ago, and the Swiss government identified the gap in 2012. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n So, is Switzerland \u2018doing nothing\u2019 to prepare for climate change?\u00a0<\/p>\n No. Switzerland is among the best-prepared countries in Europe for managing longstanding hazards such as floods, avalanches and landslides. Its monitoring systems helped evacuate a mountain village nine days before it was buried. But preparedness for newer risks, including heat, drought and water scarcity, is much less established, also due to factors such as younger institutions, fragmented cantonal policies, an overdue strategy and money for adapting the forest cut and then restored only after a record summer forced the issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n Adaptation measures are essential but will not be enough on their own, climatologist Sonia Seneviratne explained in July. Unless the underlying cause is addressed, societies will reach their limits in being able to adapt. \u00a0<\/p>\n Send us your questions\u00a0<\/p>\n Have you heard something about Switzerland that you would like us to fact-check? Get in touchExternal link<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\nA former nurse, I later pursued English linguistics and media studies where I developed a keen interest in journalism and news in the digital age. <\/p>\n
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