This week, meteorological bigwigs from around the world meet in Geneva, the home of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), to discuss meteorology and climate change. Among many things, the WMO is involved in measuring compliance with greenhouse gas emissions using measuring stations around the world. A report by WMO says that the four years from […]
Over half of Swiss ready to rethink lifestyle to save the planet, according to survey
Over half (54%) of those surveyed felt climate change was serious enough for them to rethink their way of life, according to a survey by GFS Zurich. Across Switzerland, 62% of women and 46% of men thought this. The percentage was higher in German-speaking Switzerland (65%) than in French-speaking Switzerland (29%). Only a minority thought […]
Climate change contributes to surprise fall in Swiss GDP
Third quarter Swiss GDP figures released yesterday show Switzerland’s economy shrank compared to the quarter before. GDP for the quarter to September was down by 0.2% compared to the quarter before, ending an 18-month run of quarterly growth. The fall in Swiss GDP follows a quarterly slowdown across the rest of Europe, in Germany in […]
Global warming to impact Switzerland at twice average speed, warns researcher
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts a global temperature rise of 2 degrees will have a far greater impact than previously predicted. To avoid catastrophe, the authors recommend aiming for a lower 1.5 degree rise in global temperatures, only half a degree higher than now. Achieving this would require net global emissions to […]
Family planning and climate change – the arithmetic causing a stir
Following the recent release of a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on its dramatic climate change predictions, the news agency APF published a chart from 2017 showing the effects of various actions to reduce human emissions. Quelques moyens pour réduire son empreinte carbone #AFP pic.twitter.com/QcFw0waCUG — Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) October 8, […]
Switzerland fast losing its snow to global warming
Researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the United Nations recently unveiled the results of an analysis of 22 years of satellite imagery showing the evolution of snow cover in Switzerland. Swiss snow is disappearing fast, something probably linked to global warming reckon the researchers. Over the period from 1995 to 2005, the area […]
Switzerland experiences an exceptionally cold March this year
According to Swiss Meteo, north of the Alps, March 2018 was around one degree colder than average monthly temperatures between 1981 and 2010. South of the Alps it was one of the coldest in 30 years. March 2017 was Switzerland’s hottest March since 1864, registering an average temperature 3 degrees above the norm, an average […]
Recent poll shows how much Swiss care about the environment
Poll results published this week show how Swiss view the environment and climate change. 72% agreed it was necessary to do something to combat climate change, 5% were undecided and 23% said it wasn’t. 43% were in favour of a carbon tax – a tax paid by polluters and redistributed to everyone, 14% were undecided […]
January 2018 warmest ever recorded in Switzerland
The average monthly temperature in January 2018 in Switzerland was the highest recorded since recording began in 1864, according to Swiss Meteo. Across all Swiss weather stations the average was 0.6 degrees Celsius, a bit above the last record of 0.4 degrees in January 2007. Geneva was particularly warm. There the average for the month […]
Tax to rise as Switzerland misses emissions target
Recently published emissions numbers for 2016 show that Switzerland has not met its 2016 target for reducing emissions. The 2016 target, set at 27% less than emissions in 1990, was missed by 2.2%. Because of this the government must raise the tax on emissions from CHF 84 to CHF 96 per tonne of CO2 equivalent […]
