Switzerland Today

Dear Swiss Abroad,

Are you dreaming of a white Christmas? What are the chances of flakes where you are? And will you be sampling some of the many alcohol-free drinks options out there?

Friday’s festive briefing from Bern.

Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller

In the news:  Covid funds for businesses, Solidarity for children’s education, no Swiss foreign Oscar this year, no quiet room in parliament, but maybe the creation of life from scratch.

• Switzerland’s CHF5.3 billion ($6.2 billion) hardship payments saved up to 35,000 companies from collapse during the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant lockdowns. The Federal Audit Office drew a largely positive conclusion of the funds but found some inefficiencies. For instance, companies that were hardly affected also received aid money, for example because of other sales channels such as online shipping and take-away.
• The Swiss Solidarity fundraising organisation and several partners collected more than CHF3 million for children and young people on a national solidarity day yesterday. The motto of the collection day was “Education for all”. According to a statement, 244 million children of school age worldwide are unable to attend school. Young people in Switzerland are also affected, with almost one in ten young people having no qualifications or no education. These people are four times more likely to live in poverty later on.
• Switzerland has been eliminated early from the race for an Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. The debut film FoudreExternal link (Thunder) by Geneva director Carmen Jaquier has not made it onto the shortlist. It tells the story of 17-year-old Elisabeth, who is about to take her vows as a nun in a valley in the south of Switzerland in the summer of 1900. However, the sudden death of her older sister changes everything.
• No quiet room is to be set up in the parliament building in Bern where politicians can retreat and pray during sessions. The House of Representatives today rejected a motion by a parliamentarian who had argued that the hectic pace during the sessions had increased significantly due to extraordinary events.
• Laboratories could be creating life from scratch by the end of the century, according to Swiss Nobel Prize winner Didier Queloz. “We have had the power of destruction since we had nuclear weapons. In this century we will attain the divine power of creation by creating artificial life from the ground up,” Queloz told the Tamedia media group in an interview today.

Keystone / Urs Flueeler

For many people, Christmas is associated with snow. A lack of snow at Christmas is often attributed to climate change. However, a look at the statistics shows that there have rarely been white Christmases in Swiss cities.

In the measurement period from 1931 onwards, there was no snow on Christmas day in the central and eastern Swiss plateau in six out of ten years, according to figures from the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss). In western and northwestern Switzerland it even remained green over Christmas in three out of four years and in Lugano 80% of the time.

The last time there was a white Christmas at the Zurich-Fluntern, Basel-Binnigen and Neuchâtel weather stations was in 2010. In Bern-Zollikofen, the last time there was snow on one of the two Christmas days was in 2014. Things look better in the mountains. In Davos, there has only been one Christmas Day without snow since 1931 (in 2016).

Nevertheless, there is less and less snow in Switzerland. According to an analysis by the Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), there have been up to 60% fewer snow days in the past 30 years than in the 30 years between 1963 and 1992, depending on the location and situation.

If the planet continues to warm up as it has so far, it will snow in Zurich only every 15 years or so from 2050 – and whether the snow falls at Christmas is another matter. According to the forecasts, green Christmases will also become more frequent in the Alps.

Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi

The thought of more green Christmases might drive you to drink – but what are your options if you’re off the booze? Much better than they used to be.

More and more people are toasting themselves with non-alcoholic drinks over Christmas and the New Year. The alcohol industry has responded to this and is offering an increasingly wide selection. Non-alcoholic drinks are still a small market in Switzerland – the share of non-alcoholic beer is around 5% – but the trend is clearly pointing upwards.

Established brands are also feeling the effects: the Danish brewery Carlsberg, which owns the Feldschlösschen brand, recorded sales growth of 8% for its non-alcoholic products in Switzerland in the second quarter of 2023, for example. “Consumers everywhere want a healthier and more balanced lifestyle and this is also reflected in their choice of drink,” said a Carlsberg spokesperson.

According to the latest figures from the International Wine & Spirit Research Institute (IWSR), the non-alcoholic beverage category has been the most dynamic of all beverage categories in the last five years. The market is expected to be worth several billion dollars by 2030. “The trend towards alcohol-free is recognisable worldwide, and Switzerland is no exception,” confirms a Campari spokesperson.

According to a spokeswoman for the spirits group Pernod Ricard, non-alcoholic drinks were responsible for a turnover of CHF2 million ($2.3 million) in the local market last year. Demand doubled within the space of a year. Non-alcoholic spirits were even the only category of the group to grow in the Swiss retail trade.

Compared to countries with more mature markets such as the UK, Switzerland has a lot of room for growth. It is also interesting for alcohol brands to serve this market from an advertising perspective, as alcohol-free drinks are not subject to the same advertising restrictions as the original products.

However, there’s a dilemma when it comes to price. “The production of our drinks is more expensive than the equivalent with alcohol because they have to be distilled twice,” says Christof Tremp, founder and CEO of the start-up Rebels 0.0%, which specialises in alcohol-free drinks. At the same time, customers are not prepared to pay more for non-alcoholic drinks.

Unlike some of its competitors, Rebels 0.0% does not use alcohol at all in the production process. The end product therefore contains no alcohol residue. The head of the Zurich-based company, which was founded three years ago, says: “We’re seeing a strong interest in the cities, with a pronounced trend in the 30-45 age group and among women.”

In Tremp’s opinion, completely alcohol-free cafés and shops could also become established in Switzerland. “Generation Y [those born between roughly 1982 and 1994] consume 20% less alcohol than their predecessors, so there’s a great need for alternatives,” he says. Meanwhile, Rebels 0.0% expects demand to be particularly high during the Christmas period and the following month of abstinence, “Dry January”.

Cheers! Have a merry Christmas wherever you are and whatever you’re drinking!