Switzerland Today
Greetings from Bern,
Swiss voters don’t want to curb greenhouse gases; the Swiss government does. As ministers head to a UN climate conference to argue for action, the risk is that other countries will just tell them to get their own house in order before lecturing others. We look at how credible Switzerland actually is when it comes to the climate.
In the News: Queen Elizabeth today welcomed the new Swiss ambassador to Britain – her first official engagement since spending a night in hospital and being ordered to rest by her doctors.
- The Queen, 95, the world’s oldest and longest-reigning monarch, carried out two virtual audiences at Windsor Castle to welcome Markus Leitner (pictured), the new ambassador from Switzerland, and his counterpart from South Korea. Pictures show her smiling and looking her usual self during the engagement.
- Switzerland is recommending Covid-19 booster shots for people over 65 but not for the general population. The vaccinations would start from mid-November and should be done at least six months after the patients received their second dose, the Swiss medicines supervisor said today.
- The Covid-19 pandemic has worsened gender inequalities in the world of work, according to an annual survey. Women are “significantly less satisfied” than men in all six categories that are monitored; four years ago this was the case only for stress.
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The global media spotlight turns to Glasgow on Sunday as big names from politics, business and civil society get together – again – to try to limit the damage caused by human-made climate change and leave a vaguely habitable planet for future flora and fauna. The stakes remain high, but sadly expectations remain low.
The Swiss government talks a good talk, saying it will push at the UN climate change conference (COP26) for all countries to commit to limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The problem is that, in an embarrassing case of nimbyism, the Swiss public doesn’t seem to agree – at least when it comes to Switzerland.
In June voters gave the government a black eye when they rejected a law to curb greenhouse gases. This would have repercussions, Environment Minister Simonetta Sommaruga warned at the time. “It will now be difficult to achieve the climate targets.”
So can Switzerland, which has one of the highest per capita carbon footprints in the world, credibly call for ambitious strategies at COP26?
The CO2 law was Switzerland’s main policy instrument for achieving its 2030 target. “No one in Bern knows how the 2030 targets will now be achieved. That’s not a good starting position for Glasgow,” says Patrick Hofstetter, a climate and energy expert at WWF Switzerland.
Follow SWI swissinfo.ch for Swiss-related developments and disappointments in Glasgow.
But let’s end on a positive note. When it comes to cinema, no one would claim that Switzerland is a global heavyweight, but film writer Max Borg argues that Switzerland’s reputation in Europe is going from strength to strength.
In 2021 all three of the major European film festivals – Berlin, Cannes and Venice – had at least one Swiss title as part of their programme, he notes. “In other words, the Swiss film industry appears to have a healthy relationship with international events.”
Borg reports from Lyon’s Festival Lumière, where Switzerland was a special guest. He looks at the challenges facing the Swiss film industry – some unique, such as the country’s three linguistic regions, and some universal, such as the arrival of streaming platforms – and lists some of the big Swiss names, past and present.
He concludes that “though there is definitely room for improvement, Swiss film can be viewed as a properly international affair”.
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