Most Swiss doubt politicians’ ability to deal with climate change
Global warming remains a major concern for the Swiss population. According to a poll commissioned by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), 67% believe it to be a serious problem. However, only a minority thinks that Swiss politicians can take sufficient measures on the issue.
People living in Switzerland and the Swiss Abroad have serious doubts about the ability of their politicians to respond to the challenges of climate change. This is shown by a wide-ranging opinion poll conducted by the gfs.bern research institute, commissioned by the SBC, SWI swissinfo.ch’s parent company.
Although the need for action is recognised as real and urgent by 67% of those surveyed, almost 70% of respondents do not believe that the country’s politicians will be able to take sufficient measures to counter the global warming linked to human emissions of greenhouse gases.
No miracles are expected from new technologies either. Just 37% of respondents believe that companies and science can still avert climate change with technical innovations, 6% less than in the previous year.
In the debate on climate politics in Switzerland, the right balance between measures taken in Switzerland and those taken abroad is highly controversial. According to the SBC survey, the public’s position is clear: 72% believe that Switzerland should reduce its own emissions and not improve its climate record by supporting projects abroad.
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Majority willing to do without
When it comes to the contribution that individuals makes to climate protection, things look brighter. A majority say they already drive less (51%), fly less (55%), buy less food from abroad (56%) and avoid heating their homes above 20°C (51%). Respondents are least willing to make sacrifices when it comes to single-family homes (30%) and meat consumption (25%).
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Doubt and scepticism about climate change
According to the SBC-survey, those who are not worried about climate change are in a clear minority. Around 14% of respondents believe that we need to learn more about climate change before taking action, and 9% are convinced that humans will not have any problems adapting to climate change.
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The results of “How are you, Switzerland?” are based on a representative survey of 51,182 Swiss residents and Swiss Abroad. It was conducted by the research institute gfs.bern in May and June 2024 on behalf of the SBC. This is the second time this survey has been carried out. Compared to the previous year’s version, some of the questions were new or different, but most were identical.
In all, 3,000 respondents were selected from an online panel by gfs.bern in order to obtain a representative sample of the Swiss population (16 years and older). The sample was stratified according to language region and proportioned according to age and gender.
The other respondents completed the questionnaire online. They were invited to do so via the SBC channels, but decided for themselves whether they wanted to participate. This survey method is not representative. Representativeness is achieved by means of specific data weighting and data validation procedures. The questionnaire consisted of around 300 questions. To ensure that an interview did not exceed about 20 minutes, gfs.bern did not ask the same questions to all respondents. The sampling error is +/- 1.8% at 50:50 and 95% probability.
Adapted from French by Claire Micallef/ts
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