The week in Switzerland
Dear Swiss Abroad,
The heatwave continued in Switzerland this week – as I write, the real-feel temperature in Bern is 36°. I explain below how such temperatures can obviously have very serious consequences, but I have to admit that late evenings are currently very pleasant: thousands of people across the country were in a party mood on Wednesday night for the solar eclipse.
“Solar eclipse captivates Switzerland” wrote Swiss public broadcaster SRF on Thursday morning, a few hours after the biggest solar eclipse since 1999.
The Swiss media had whet the public’s astronomic appetite all week – including where and how to watch the spectacle. Finally, at 7:23pm on Wednesday, the Moon began to move in front of the Sun in the northeastern corner of the country. Around an hour later, depending on the location, the Moon covered between 91% and 93% of the Sun.
“At the peak of the solar eclipse, applause broke out in many places across Switzerland,” SRF reported. This was certainly the case at the Rosengarten in Bern, where thousands of people – including me and my wife – raised a glass while peering through special eclipse glasses (we bought them weeks ago, but massive queues formed outside specialist shops on Tuesday).
If you thought an eclipse wouldn’t have any concrete consequences, you’d be wrong. “The sudden darkness is expected to reduce Switzerland’s solar power output by 240 megawatts – the equivalent of the electricity consumption of 15,000 electric vehicles,” Le Temps warned on Wednesday morning. “While the effect is substantial, it is both expected and temporary.”
Did you miss this week’s phenomenon? Write the next total solar eclipse in Switzerland into your diary: September 3, 2081.
The summer of 2026 has already broken many of the Swiss temperature records set in the “summer of the century” of 2003.
“This summer is really heating up,” the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) told its readers on Thursday, although I’m guessing they might have noticed. “Since May, one heatwave has followed another […]. Records are being broken left, right and centre: 39.7°C in Basel is the new record for the northern side of the Alps in Switzerland.”
The lack of water was also reaching historic proportions, the NZZ added. “Many local authorities are urging people to save water, and river levels are falling and falling: cargo ships on the Rhine can currently only reach Basel with a significantly reduced load.”
Swiss public broadcaster SRF added that the current summer had so far notched up higher temperatures, more days of extreme heat and more tropical nights in many parts of the country than ever.
Nevertheless, Switzerland has stopped short of declaring a state of emergency. The situation can currently be managed with existing structures, the government said on Wednesday.
Other consequences of the exceptional heat reported this week include the potential disappearance of dozens of small glaciers this year and a drop in the quality of Alpine cheese.
Many Swiss appear unmoved by heatwaves, drought and devastating wildfires. Only one in five adults says the climate crisis has had a significant influence on their spending and investment decisions, a share that has steadily decreased in recent years.
The study, published on Tuesday by online consumer platform Comparis, found that 34% of Swiss consumers are “not at all” influenced by climate change when it came to purchasing or investment decisions, while 46% are only “slightly” influenced; just 15% said the issue was a “big influence” and 5% a “very big influence”.
“Many Swiss people say they are prepared to cut back on air travel or meat consumption, but the facts tell a different story,” said Michael Kuhn, a finance expert at Comparis.
The results point to a clear trend. Between late 2020 and mid-2023, between 66% and 70% of respondents said climate concerns had little or no influence on their consumer choices. By July 2026, that figure had climbed to 80%. Meanwhile, the proportion of people who say they are not influenced by climate issues at all when shopping has risen sharply since 2019, from around 20% to 34%.
Kuhn reckons the trend is due to a mix of competing concerns, including rising health insurance premiums, higher rents, wars and inflation, combined with fatigue from years of climate debate and a growing sense of powerlessness.
Former Swiss tennis star Roger Federer is no longer a billionaire, according to US business magazine Forbes.
Federer, 45, saw his net worth plummet by around $52 million (CHF42 million) to $952 million on Tuesday after a slump in the share price of Swiss sports footwear manufacturer On, in which he holds an estimated 3% stake.
Forbes first ranked Federer as a billionaire in 2025. In addition to his stake in On, his long-standing sponsorship deals with brands including Uniqlo, Rolex, Lindt and Mercedes-Benz contribute to his fortune. He also earned more than $130 million in prize money.
“Because we all feel sorry for him,” wrote news portal Watson, no doubt summing up the national mood. “Out of sympathy for the Federer family, and to help restore Switzerland’s sense of national identity, we’ve come up with 17 suggestions that could make Roger a billionaire again in no time.” These include launching his own crypto currency or GoFundMe campaign, shaking down Stan Wawrinka for a few francs, and enquiring about any job vacancies at FIFA…
Sub-edited by sb
The week ahead
Are the Swiss getting more or less fit? On Tuesday Sports Minister Martin Pfister will answer questions at a press conference on the Sport Switzerland 2026 study, which highlights changes in the Swiss population’s sporting and physical activity habits, as well as trends and challenges.
On Thursday the Federal Statistical Office is publishing figures on the population and its trends in 2025. The following day it’s giving stats on first names and surnames in Switzerland in 2025.
The Queer Memorial is being inaugurated in Sihlfeld Cemetery, Zurich’s largest cemetery, on Thursday. The memorial honours those who lost their lives as a result of anti-queer discrimination, violence or social exclusion.
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