Let’s Talk: disagreeing on how to save the planet

SWI

To preserve nature, we need to respect its limits. The two guests in our Let’s Talk debate agree on this but differ on what steps should be taken. Margot Chauderna, co-president of the Young Greens, and Pauline Blanc from the Young Radical-Liberal Party discuss the initiative for environmental responsibility being put to the popular vote on February 9.

The youth section of the left-wing Green Party (Young Greens) wants to ensure the economy can’t use more resources than the planet can support. It bases this on the planetary boundaries concept, put forward in 2009 by an international team of scientists. 

“This concept defines nine thresholds that must not be crossed if we want to ensure basic subsistence on our planet,” explains Young Greens co-president Margot Chauderna in our Let’s Talk video debate. These thresholds include climate change, biodiversity, water consumption and land use, she says.

>> Read our explainer on the initiative being put to the people on February 9: 

“There are indeed global limits that shouldn’t be surpassed,” agrees Pauline Blanc, a member of the centre-right Young Radical-Liberal Party, who is opposed to the initiative. However, she believes that Switzerland cannot act alone. “We need international cooperation and a global vision. What’s more, Switzerland is already doing its part by implementing measures to achieve its climate objectives,” she says.

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If everyone lived like people in Switzerland, we would need 2.5 Earths, according to calculations by the NGO Global Footprint Network. According to these calculations, validated by the Swiss government, we would need five Earths if everyone lived as they do in the US. Countries that consume less than one Earth include poor countries such as Afghanistan, Madagascar and Eritrea, which consume the equivalent of just 0.5 Earths.

But Chauderna believes we should not compare Switzerland, “a small, rich, privileged country”, with fragile countries. “This brings us to face our responsibilities,” she says. “We pollute more than others, notably by exploiting resources abroad, and we have more resources. So we need to take more significant steps.” 

Blanc disagrees. “This initiative would require a level of consumption similar to that of certain developing countries, such as Afghanistan,” she says. Blanc believes this initiative would be detrimental to the prosperity of the Swiss population. 

“There can be no prosperity without respect for planetary limits. It’s a given: we can’t consume more than we have,” replies Chauderna. She points out that global warming is responsible for a number of natural disasters, and that the population should be protected. 

>> Does the initiative jeopardise Switzerland’s prosperity? Margot Chauderna’s answer:

In Blanc’s view, the initiative would impose strict standards on industrial companies, raising production costs and therefore prices. “The public would suffer the consequences, as it would reduce their purchasing power,” she argues.

“If Switzerland decides alone to respect global limits while other countries do nothing, will it really serve any purpose?” Christopher Greenish, a Swiss in Sweden who took part remotely, asks Margot Chauderna.

She replies that Switzerland can play a pioneering role. “Switzerland has considerable financial resources and technological knowhow that would enable it to stand out through its sustainability,” she argues. 

Blanc points out that the 2030 sustainable development strategy already mentions planetary limits. “We’re not denying the problem, but we have a different vision of the measures to be taken,” she says.

Nuclear power or investing differently?

The initiative is formulated in general terms and does not propose any concrete measures, but Chauderna suggests a number of avenues. “We could, for example, stop all investments in areas that are harmful to biodiversity, the environment and the climate,” she says. “On the other hand, we should invest more in mobility, housing, energy and agriculture, to make them more sustainable.”

Greenish points out that Sweden, where he lives, produces most of its energy without fossil fuels, thanks in part to nuclear power. He asks Blanc whether it would be in Switzerland’s interest to re-open nuclear power plants.

Blanc is a member of the committee behind the “Stop the Blackout” initiative, which calls for the return of nuclear power in Switzerland. “It is the solution to meeting our climate objectives,” she says. “Nuclear power would help us generate more energy, without emitting CO2.”

Environmental issues losing priority

Switzerland has set itself the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. This strategy was approved by popular vote in June 2023. Since then, however, the environment and climate issues have lost importance on the political agenda, overshadowed by security issues.

Blanc notes that the population has other concrete, urgent problems that directly influence their daily lives and so push environmental concerns into the background. “Purchasing power, for example, is an issue that particularly appeals to the public. Many people are already wondering how they’re going to feed their children at the end of the month. That comes before the climate,” she notes. 

>> Security concerns have pushed environmental issues down the political agenda. Pauline Blanc’s opinion on the subject:

Chauderna, however, believes her party takes the social acceptability of environmental measures into account. “We want the multinationals and the ultra-rich who pollute the most to pay,” she explains. “The idea is not to make the population bear the brunt of the energy transition.” 

The Greens, however, lost ground in the most recent elections in Switzerland, as elsewhere in Europe. “We need to do a better job of conveying the idea that our ecology is also about social justice,” Chauderna says. “It’s not against people – it aims to prepare a world that future generations will want to live in.”

Edited by Samuel Jaberg. Adapted from French by Julia Crawford/ts