Reducing Switzerland’s carbon footprint by 2050

Switzerland needs an economy that is based on the sustainable use of natural resources. An initiative by the Green Party wants to incorporate this into the country’s constitution, but opponents are convinced such a strategy is unrealistic. Voters have the final say at the ballot box on September 25. It is a fact that the consumption of natural resources worldwide has been exceeding the Earth’s capacity to regenerate itself since the 1980s. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that by 2050 the global ecological footprint will triple if the economy of industrialised countries continues to grow at the same pace while developing countries increase their consumption. Switzerland, a country with limited natural resources, has a large carbon footprint and is among those countries which are guilty of consuming more than their fair share of the Earth’s bounty. The Swiss economy is highly globalised and about 70% of consumer goods are imported, thus ...