Switzerland wants to save the climate, but turns away from the Greens

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Four years after their historic score, the Greens fell heavily in Sunday's federal elections. In the eyes of the public, climate change remains one of the main challenges facing Switzerland. Analysis of an electoral paradox.

On Sunday, the green wave broke violently against the ballot box. The backwash is almost as brutal as the tidal wave of 2019. The Swiss Green Party lost almost four points of its national electoral share. It fell below the 10% mark and lost five of its 28 seats on the National Council.

Four years ago, the debate on climate change - a favorite theme of ecologists - enabled the Greens to conquer new territories, even outside the major conurbations. Since then, the climate has remained a major concern for the population, as all opinion polls testify.

A serious problem that needs to be addressed

Carried out last spring by the gfs.bern institute among more than 50,000 people in Switzerland, the major SRG survey "How's Switzerland doing?" showed, for example, that more than two-thirds of the country's inhabitants believe that climate change "is a serious problem (which) needs to be tackled as soon as possible".

Similarly, more than seven out of ten respondents felt that Switzerland should take action to combat climate change, "even if the countries with the highest CO2 emissions don't contribute to the collective effort". On the face of it, this should boost the Greens' ambitions.

So how do we explain last weekend's electoral wreck? Resignation to the climate crisis probably played a part. In fact, for over 70% of those surveyed, Swiss policy "won't be able to do enough" to counter climate change. A fatalism that may have weighed on the mobilization of the ecologist electorate.

At the same time, the other parties have also decided to tackle the climate issue, leaving the field wide open to environmentalists alone. Moreover, according to the latest SRG election barometers, climate change is no longer the public's main concern. Against a backdrop of widespread price rises, it was overtaken this summer by health insurance premiums, the SP's favorite battleground. Over the past year, the SVP's favourite topic of immigration has also become increasingly important.

Immigration, healthcare costs and inflation have largely dominated the political agenda in recent months, relegating the debate on climate change to the background. The Socialists and SVP took advantage of these favorable currents to sail to electoral success, while the Greens faced headwinds.

A widespread disenchantment with multiple causes

Beyond the lack of grassroots mobilization and the difficulty of imposing the climate theme, what are the underlying reasons for the electorate's disenchantment with the ecologists? To disentangle the true from the false, the Sotomo institute put the question to the first people concerned, those who voted for the Greens four years ago and who have now turned their backs on them.

In terms of political orientation, the most frequently cited sources of dissatisfaction are health insurance premiums, climate change and the European dossier. They are repeated by about one in five disaffected voters. The same proportion cite no particular theme. In fact, there isn't a single major reason why the Greens have moved away.

When it comes to triggers for a decision to switch parties, the actions of "activists who stick to the street" ("Klimakleber" in German, 27%) and the debate on gender and wokism (26%) are frequently cited, as is the polarization of political debates (25%). But what comes up most often is that the decision is not linked to a current event (30%).

The reasons for the defeat of the Greens

This is why the political pendulum is swinging to the right again

The Swiss Peoples Party backed the right campaign horse: Immigration was the top issue that drove people to the voting box.

On Sunday, Switzerland moved to the right. But how was this "conservative slide" possible after the green slide of 2019, which groups of voters flocked to the polls and which issues moved them the most? The SBC post-election survey, conducted by the Sotomo research centre, answers these very questions.

Political scientist Sarah Bütikofer reflects one main finding: "On the one hand, the Swiss People's Party was able to mobilise its traditional electorate very well. On the other hand, they were able to win new voters across the political camps.

And that also because the most important issue for the election decision was migration, which the Swiss People Party had put at the centre of its campaign. "This year, the Swiss People's Party campaigned primarily on the fear of a ten-million-strong Switzerland", says Bütikofer. For three quarters of the Swiss People Party's electorate, this was also the reason to give the party their vote.

The fact that the immigration issue mobilised so much is surprising, given that health insurance premiums are considered the biggest political challenge by 52% of respondents - ahead of climate change at 36% and immigration at 35%.

The Social Democrats and the Greens have been fishing in the same pond for some time.

Nevertheless, the Social Democratic Party was also able to benefit from the fact that social issues have moved more into focus compared to the last elections: For example, the Social Democrats were able to gain two percentage points due to the migration from the Greens. "The two parties have been fishing in the same pond for some time", explains the political scientist. "Depending on the current state of the issues, the votes from the left camp tend to go to the Greens or to the Social Democratic Party."

Climate protection no longer a unique green selling point

However, on Sunday, the Social Democrats did not manage to fully compensate for the big losses of the Greens. And they also lost votes to the Centre (-0.4) and the SVP (-0.5) percent. The Centre was able to gain votes from the left and liberal, but also lost 0.7 percentage points to the Swiss People's Party.

More than half of the Greens' losses went to the Social Democratic Party. However, the Greens have also lost to the Swiss People's Party, the Liberal Greens and the Centre. Compared to 2019, the Greens have also experienced a demobilisation. And: Climate protection is absolutely central to the Green vote. However, many Social Democrat voters also state that they voted for the party for this reason - climate protection is no longer a unique selling point for the Greens.

The issues on people's minds also did not play into the hands of the "economic party" the Radical-Liberal Party. This is because liberal economic issues such as pension reform, taxes and the economy as well as competition have lost importance for the respondents.

Looking at the age structure, it is noticeable that the Swiss People's Party won the most middle-aged voters (46 to 65) in these elections. The Centre and the Radical-Liberal Party, were most often elected by voters of retirement age, while the Greens appealed to significantly more young people than older people. The Social Democratic Party was able to win over the most young voters.

The Swiss People's Party scored significantly better among people with lower education than among the highly educated. The biggest contrast to this is the Green Party, whose electorate is mostly tertiary educated.

The Radical-Liberal Party is the political party which is predominantly voted for by very well-off people. The Swiss People's Party also appeals to people with good and very good income, but is most often voted for by people with low income.

The post-election survey additionally looked ahead to the coming legislature. Then it will become clear how the "slide to the right without a right-wing majority" will manifest itself politically. Because: The right-wing parties fall short of an absolute majority in the National Council and the Centre in particular becomes the majority procurer for the left and the right.

Conclusion: In the next four years, the respondents would like to see effective measures against the constantly rising health costs. After all, health insurance premiums are putting as much pressure on people's minds as they are on their wallets.

Claire Micallef

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Who has mobilised and how

Are you still the right president for the Green Party, Mr. Glättli?

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After soaring in the 2019 elections, the Greens suffered a bitter loss over the weekend. Party President Balthasar Glättli doesn't want to say whether the ambition to win a seat on the Federal Council will be pursued any further.

SRF News: A drop of 3.4%, the Greens have fallen below the ten-percent mark. How much does this pain you this morning?

Balthasar Glättli: It hurts more than it did yesterday. I was able to relax a bit yesterday when it was clear that we had achieved the second-best result in our history. This will shape the balance of power over the next four years. With three seats, we are already securely anchored in the Council of States again. And in the end, we found that we only lost five seats instead of seven, as had been predicted in the meantime.

My personal assumption - without any data basis - is that there are more and more people who think that the climate crisis has already progressed so far that nothing more can be done - that a certain resignation prevails.

Emotionally, I am frustrated that we didn't manage to do better. Though, the slide to the right in the National Council is less pronounced than in 2015. That the Council of States will be the more progressive and above all the more social chamber, as was the case in the 2015 to 2019 legislature, is not to be expected, despite the many by-elections.

Why couldn't you convince the electorate that Switzerland needs a green policy?

We will have to look at whether we have lost to non-voters or to our competition in the red-green camp. This will be decisive for answering this question. My personal assumption - without any data basis - is that there are more and more people who think that the climate crisis has already progressed so far that nothing more can be done - that a certain resignation prevails. I hope this is not the case. There are many points on which we still have to and can work, and we will definitely do so. We are in the second largest parliamentary group, with a lot of weight in the large chamber.

Regarding the Greens' ambitions for the Federal Council: You can acutally already make this decision today?

We don't make such decisions alone, at the standing desk of the radio as it were, as a presidential decree. We are a whole parliamentary group. What we can say, however, is obvious: this result is not a booster for our Federal Council ambitions.

The question of the party president also automatically arises. Are you still the right president for the Greens, Balthasar Glättli?

That is a question that, for logical reasons, you don't decide all by yourself. You don't have to be the right president for yourself, but for your fellow party members.

We will have to talk about what is the right composition of the team in the future.

We will sit together and analyse this election in depth. When all the figures and also the feedback from the cantons - the special analyses - are available, we will also see how the other parties did. We will have to talk about what is the right composition of the team in the future.

The interview was conducted by Vera Deragisch.

What went wrong, Mr Glättli?

Are the green parties past their peak?

On the right, French-speaking Switzerland walks in step with German-speaking Switzerland

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"À droite de l'UDC, il n'y a plus que le mur " - to the right of the Swiss People's Party, there is only the wall. This bon mot is heard again and again in political debates in French-speaking Switzerland. The saying is bitter and shows the long-held view of the Swiss People's Party here: it was considered too right-wing and absolutely unelectable.

And yet, the Swiss People's Party now has more National Council seats in French-speaking Switzerland than the Radical-Liberal Party: twelve seats for the Swiss People's Party in Geneva, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Jura, Fribourg and Valais. Nine for the Radical-Liberal Party. This is remarkable. After all, the 1992 EEA vote, which marked the birth of the Swiss People's Party's steep rise in German-speaking Switzerland, is a political trauma in French-speaking Switzerland. Together with the cantons Basel City and Basel Country, French-speaking Switzerland had voted unanimously in favour of accession and was outvoted. Because of the Swiss People's Party.

Since then, German-speaking Swiss have been called "Les Nein-Sager" in satire. Because of the Swiss People's Party and the EEA vote. And now it is precisely this Swiss People's Party that is gaining voter shares everywhere in French-speaking Switzerland and challenging the Radical-Liberal Party's traditional supremacy.

The Radical-Liberals have miscalculated in the largest cantons of French-speaking Switzerland. In Vaud, it formed an alliance with the Swiss People's Party. As a result, the Swiss People's Party won one seat, the Radical-Liberal Party lost one. And the Centre also gained a seat. It had no longer taken part in the "Alliance Vaudoise", although it was precisely this alliance that had helped the Centre to elect Valérie Dittli to the government in the last cantonal elections. In Geneva, the Radical-Liberals formed an alliance with the Swiss People's Party, the MCG and the Centre. As a result, the MCG won two seats. The Radical-Liberal Party none. In Jura, too, the Radical-Liberals and the Swiss People's Party joined forces. The Swiss People's Party won one seat in the National Council. The Radical-Liberal Party, one again, won nothing.

The Radical-Liberal Party is also the silent loser of the elections in French-speaking Switzerland because Philippe Bauer, its member of the Council of States from Neuchâtel, was voted out of office. In the last canton, of all places, where the Radical-Liberals alone hold the majority in the five-member government. In Vaud, the Radical-Liberal candidate Pascal Broulis faces a difficult second round of voting against the assembled left behind the Green candidate. In Geneva, the Radical-Liberals are not even allowed to participate in the second round of voting.

The Centre can hold its own in French-speaking Switzerland. But the Liberal Greens are left with only one instead of three National Council seats there and no more strong figures.

Left of the centre, the Greens lose, who had benefited in 2019 from the green wave in French-speaking Switzerland. They lose massive voter shares in Vaud and Geneva, but are able to limit the damage in terms of seats: minus one seat in the National Council in the cantons of Vaud and Geneva. The Social Democratic Party wins, but not enough to compensate for the losses of the Greens.

The Greens are also paying the price for the fact that climate protests were particularly strong in French-speaking Switzerland. Not only were there climate activists who glued themselves to streets, but entire golf courses were turned into potato fields. This put the party in an impossible situation: distancing themselves alienates a potential electorate. Not distancing themselves probably resulted in the loss of moderate voters. The Social Democratic Party, on the other hand, managed to do what the Radical-Liberals could not: remain clearly the strongest force in its camp.

Despite the Greens' losses, the left-wing camp remains stronger in French-speaking Switzerland than in German-speaking Switzerland. On the left, French-speaking Switzerland continues to tick differently. On the right, it walks increasingly in step with German-speaking Switzerland.

No trace of the green wave 

Swiss Abroad also turn their back on Greens

As in Switzerland, the green vote in 2023 federal elections dropped among the Swiss diaspora, mainly in favour of the Social Democratic Party. By contrast, the rise in support for the Swiss People’s Party was not reflected in the ballots cast by Swiss voters abroad. No Swiss Abroad was elected to parliament.

One of the main conclusions to be drawn from Sunday’s federal elections is that the green wave that characterised the 2019 legislative elections is a thing of the past. At national level, the two green parties suffered a real slap in the face.

At 9.8%, the Greens’ share of the vote fell by 3.4 percentage points and the party lost five seats. Only the other ecologist party, the Liberal Greens, had a worse result in terms of mandates (losing six seats and recording a 0.2 percentage point drop in electoral share to 7.6%).

Swiss living abroad also voted significantly less for the Greens this year. In all 12 cantons that provide separate statistics on the diaspora vote, the Green Party lost 5.4 percentage points in electoral share, dropping from first place in 2019 (with 23.8% of the vote) to third place this year (with 18.4%).

This is despite the fact that the Swiss Abroad traditionally vote more in favour of the climate than their compatriots in Switzerland, as has been the case in recent popular votes on this issue. According to Martina Mousson, a political scientist at gfs.bern, the Green Party’s decline is linked to the current context, both abroad and in Switzerland.

The situation now is fundamentally different from the situation four years ago, she said. “Although the climate remains one of the main concerns of the Swiss, it was clearly not a relevant issue for the elections and was overshadowed by other global themes”, such as the war in Ukraine, the economic situation or inflation, Mousson said. “Switzerland is not the only country concerned.”

At national level, the left-wing Social Democratic Party recorded the second-biggest increase behind the People’s Party (1.5 percentage points to 18.3% of the vote). Abroad, it made the biggest gains (2.8 percentage points, from 17.6% to 20.4% of the vote).

The main change in the vote of Swiss living abroad in 2023 therefore seems to be a transfer to the Social Democrats of the votes that went to the Greens in 2019.

Does this mean the Greens have lost the confidence of the expatriate population? “I don’t think the Greens have done anything wrong,” Mousson said. “In general, right-wing parties have a better chance of doing well in uncertain global situations.” She believes the ecologists have probably fallen victim to the global economic situation this year, whereas they benefited from it four years ago.

On the other hand, in contrast to the national picture, the Swiss People’s Party cannot be said to have triumphed at the ballot box among Swiss expatriates.

The right-wing party, the country’s leading political force, which also saw the strongest growth this year (nine new seats and 27.9% of the vote, up 2.3 percentage points), also saw an increase beyond Switzerland’s borders, albeit more moderate: from 18% to 18.5% of the diaspora vote.

The People’s Party remains the second political force among the Swiss Abroad but with scores that are still significantly lower than those achieved at national level.

But the Swiss electorate abroad is traditionally more liberal and left-leaning than the rest of the country. “This is nothing new, which is why I’m not surprised that the People’s Party has not made greater inroads abroad,” Mousson said.

Overall, the way the diaspora voted confirms the tendency of this electorate to lean more to the left and more green than the domestic population. Between them, the main left-wing parties (Social Democrats and Greens) won almost 39% of the vote (compared with 28.1% for Switzerland as a whole); the combined strength of the ecologist parties (Greens and Liberal Greens) was 30% abroad (compared with 17.4% in Switzerland). 

The scores of the other parties remain relatively stable. The Centre Party gained 0.9 percentage points, exceeding the 0.3% rise achieved at national level. For the Radical-Liberal Party, too, the trend is much the same among the Swiss Abroad as for voters in Switzerland: the centre-right party is down 0.6 percentage points (compared with 0.8 for the country as a whole).

As is often the case, voter turnout among the Swiss Abroad remained low, at 18.7% (compared with 46.6% nationally), and was down in virtually all cantons with the exception of Basel City and St Gallen. 

In a press release issued on October 24, the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA) noted that these were two of the three cantons (the third being Thurgau) that were able to elect their representatives to parliament electronically for the first time this year.

The OSA, which advocates e-voting for the Swiss Abroad, sees this as confirmation that it will help to increase voter turnout among the Swiss Abroad.

Forty-three Swiss nationals from abroad stood for election in these federal elections. Unsurprisingly, none of these candidates made the grade. Nevertheless, the results of two members of the diaspora stood out.

The candidate from abroad who received the most votes was Pascal Cuttat, from Nairobi in Kenya, who stood in canton Bern. No fewer than 12,451 Bernese voted for the 61-year-old Social Democrat, who works for the Swiss Red Cross.

In Geneva, Green politician Rudolf Berli notched up an impressive 11,947 votes to come fourth on the party’s list. The market gardener from Pougny (France) received 4,271 votes in Geneva alone and 999 votes from abroad.

The most recent election of a parliamentarian from abroad was that of Tim Guldimann for the Social Democrats in canton Zurich. He achieved a brilliant result in 2015, winning 102,757 votes. At the time, he was not the first Swiss Abroad to sit in parliament, but the first to be elected while living abroad. Guldimann resigned in 2018, arguing that it was difficult to “live in one environment and do politics in another”.

In practice, the Swiss Abroad have hardly any chance of being elected, Ariane Rustichelli, director of the OSA, confirms. “The Guldimann case was quite exceptional,” she said.

The demand that the Swiss Abroad have direct representation in parliament is raised again and again, she added. “The OSA has a working group that supports this,” Rustichelli said. However, because there would have to be a constitutional amendment for this, this demand has not yet been successful, she said.

On October 25 this article was amended to include the OSA's analysis of the increase in voter turnout thanks to electronic voting.

Translated from French by Thomas Stephens

Swiss Abroad turn their back on Greens

Do Europe's green parties face a "glass ceiling"?

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Following the defeat of the Greens and the Liberal Greens in the federal elections - they lost 11 seats in the Swiss parliament - the question arises whether there is a glass ceiling for environmentalist parties. A number of European specialists agree with this view. 

The Green parties had "established themselves quite quickly as important political players" in some European countries, but had rarely exceeded the 10% voter share threshold.

This is what Simon Persico, professor of political science at the University of Grenoble, says in an interview with RTS. For him, there are clear signs that this threshold is still impassable for the Greens.

"No environmentalist as head of government"

"What is certain is that so far no environmentalist has succeeded in becoming head of a national government. They have entered parliaments, they have entered governments, but they don't manage to become head of the executive", Persico said. "And that is clearly an indication of some kind of glass ceiling they can't break through."

Yet in recent years, especially between 2018 and 2021, the green parties in Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe have achieved great successes, setting historic records.

This success can be explained in particular by the mobilisations of the population following the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015, and the rise of climate strikes.

But after the flood, there's the ebb, a decline that has been observed in recent months in Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands, where anti-environmental parties have gained ground.

In the Netherlands, for example, the Farmer-Citizen Movement became the strongest party in the regional elections in March. The party was formed after farmers protested against the government's environmental policy.

"In fact, the elections we've been seeing since 2022 and 2023 show a sort of setback compared to this 2018-2020 breakthrough", notes Simon Persico.

"The far-right parties raise issues linked to identity, Islam and immigration, issues that are very powerful in structuring debates in national campaigns. The Greens don't score well on immigration, insecurity and Islam. They score well when it comes to the environment, global warming and the fight against inequality", analyses the political scientist.

In recent years, Europe has also experienced a number of crises: a pandemic, the war in Ukraine and inflation. These crises have shifted priorities.

Pauline Plagnat-Cantoreggi, a lecturer at the Institute of Environmental Sciences at the University of Geneva, believes that the population has become aware of global warming and its consequences, but that political ecology can be perceived as punitive, or not concrete and pragmatic enough.

"This is very much reflected in the surveys, where [...] we have almost 80% of the population who believe the climate challenge to be at the top of their concerns. Now, it's one thing to be aware of the problem, and quite another to want to take action at an individual level, to see tall the measures it requires", the researcher explains.

"Are the losses of votes now due to the conclusion that too much effort is being demanded or, on the contrary, that the environmental challenges are being addressed not only by the Greens but also by the other political parties?", she asks. "There's a fear that measures in favour of the environment will cause greater social divisions", adds Pauline Plagnat-Cantoreggi. "And a pessimism about how we are going to get there", she concludes.

So, for one part of the population, the green parties are doing too much. For another part - sometimes found on motorways and in traffic roundabouts - they just don't do enough. This is also one of the explanations why the "glass ceiling" is so hard to break.

But even if they are currently losing, Simon Persico points out that the green parties are gaining around two to three percentage points per decade. A slight increase, but one that shows a long-term trend.

Glass ceiling for the Greens?

Find out where you stand

Four years ago, the climate movement "Fridays for Future" contributed to the electoral success of the Green Party. In the meantime, however, the topic has lost its mobilizing power.

revolutionary-plum-harrier

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There was no shortage of heat records and weather extremes this year either. But unlike in 2019, that didn't help the Greens in the elections this time. This was already apparent before election day. Two climate activists explain in the SRF podcast "Einfach Politik" what has changed compared to the last elections and why the climate movement has lost trust in politics.

Climate has lost its mobilising power.

The green wave from the 2019 elections will be difficult to repeat, says political scientist Claude Longchamp.

Simone Fassora

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The Greens have won almost e very cantonal elections in the last legislature, with the important exception of Zurich. They gained nearly 50 seats, which strengthened internal confidence. This was the peak for the Green Party in the last legislature, according to political scientist Claude Longchamp, who takes us on a journey through the major parties ahead of the federal elections in October.

The flop, on the other hand, was the defeat against the Swiss People’s Party in the battle over the CO2 law, less than two years after the 2019 election year in which there was a lot of talk about climate and which favoured the party. Undoubtedly, this lost battle was the most depressing moment for them.

As for the future, "one is rather sceptical today that the Greens will still be able to gain ground. When a party gains six percentage points, it is difficult for them to remain at a certain level. I think it is rather unlikely to repeat or exceed the result of 2019."

As always, voters will have the last word.

Tops and flops of the Greens

Podcast - Is ecology only a matter for the left?

Activist and journalist Hugo Clément was the subject of controversy in spring when he agreed to talk ecology with the French far right. Green politics is currently often equated with left-wing politics, partly also in Switzerland. But is this necessarily the case?

"Ecology is less and less a matter for the left. If we want to achieve majorities in climate policy in Switzerland, we need to reach out to a broader spectrum and not just support from the left", says Karin Ingold in the RTS podcast "Le Point J". Karin Ingold is a political scientist at the University of Berne and specialises in environmental governance in Switzerland, 

"In Switzerland, it was not the political parties but the associations that historically initiated the first debates on the environment", explains Karin Ingold. The Swiss political system, with its instruments of direct democracy and the need for compromise, means that ecology is no longer exclusively a left-wing issue. This led to the emergence of the Liberal Green Party.

There is an alliance between ecology and a liberal vision. One can even imagine a marriage between ecology and the far right, but this combination is the exception in Switzerland.

Is an alliance between ecology and right-wing politics compatible? Are environmental debates in Switzerland more productive when conducted by elected representatives from the left or the right?

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Ecology and right-wing parties

Antonio Hodgers: "By insisting on this apocalyptic future, we deprive ourselves of the prospects of life"

The alarmist speeches on climate change are counterproductive, says Antonio Hodgers in May on RTS. In a published manifesto, the Green state councillor of Geneva pleads instead for an "ecology of hope".

Antonio Hodgers is convinced that we must act in favour of the climate. According to him, the problem lies in the way the situation is presented to the population. In his opinion, catastrophic stories do not lead to collective mobilisation.

By pointing out catastrophic facts, such as the melting of the ice caps, the human brain pushes them into the background. "When you sound the alarm once, twice, three times, after a while people stop coming", he summarises.

"Ecology is not making as much progress anymore", says Antonio Hodgers. He believes this phenomenon can be explained by this poor strategy, as apocalyptic speeches can provoke a defensive reaction in some citizens.

"Will we convince more people by scaring them, or will we just feed the activists who are already very mobilised?", he wonders. Instead, the Green politician suggests having a positive vision of ecology. "If we turn this ecological transition into an exciting project, we will be able gain more members and make the necessary changes", he believes.

Antonio Hodgers' dream would be to make the Green Party "a large, broad-based middle-class party, based on openness and ecological responsibility." According to him, targeting a more militant electorate would have a tighter focus on ecology.

If we turn this ecological transition into an exciting project, we will increase the number of members and we will be able to make the necessary changes

Antonio Hodgers understands the eco-anxiety some young people are suffering from, however, he believes that it is not the job of a political party to fuel this fear. We need to encourage them to get involved, but at the same time we need to emphasise the festive aspect of tis commitment, he says.

The politician from Geneva remembers joining the Green Party in 1997. "It was kind of an idea: we are going to use less oil, we are going to be less materialistic, we are going to spend more free time with our friends and we are going to party", he recalls. "Maybe it was a bit naive, but there was a rush of happiness and fun", he continues. For Antonio Hodgers, "by insisting on this apocalyptic future, we deprive ourselves of the prospects of life."

Antonio Hodgers underlines the fact that there is some good news in the field of ecology. He mentions in particular his canton of Geneva, which has reduced CO2 emissions per person by 30% over the past 30 years. "We have initiated the change. We have to tell people that efforts are paying off", he enthuses. There have also been successes in terms of biodiversity: "We were able to save the humpback whales in the Atlantic", he rejoices.

While the IPCC report describes a worrying outlook, it does not present any scenario for the disappearance of humanity, he said. "But that doesn't mean it won't be tough and that there isn't something at stake", moderates the state councillor. He is confident, however, that despite the difficulties, especially in the areas of water and agriculture, we will be able to adapt. For the Geneva Greens, "with any project for society, you have to say: the road will be hard, it is a real test of life, but when we have gone through it, we will have grown as a society and as individuals."

We have to tell people that the efforts are paying off

According to him, western countries must therefore be in a position to face these challenges. "We have the financial resources and the geographical location that allow us to adapt." This might be more complicated for "some populations in semi-desert climates or on small islands in deltas", says Hodgers. "It will come to the point there that most of them will have to emigrate."

There is therefore a real issue of international solidarity behind global warming, according to the Green state councillor. "I find that we don't talk about it much", he explains, "because fear is a reflection of oneself: I am afraid for myself, for my children. This is what I call 'egology'".

Antonio Hodgers takes an example of one of the IPCC's rather harsh scenarios. "By the end of the century, the Swiss midlands could have the climate of southern Italy around Naples." This would be a problem for agriculture and heat islands, but the ecologist is convinced that Switzerland would be able to adapt.

"But we can also see that if we have the climate of Naples, Naples will have the climate of Marrakech and Marrakech will have the climate of the Sahara", he continues, "and therefore, one of the great challenges of this global warming is international solidarity."

Antonio Hodgers also denounces the opposite, an "ecology of isolation". "The Swiss People’s Party says they want to limit immigration because this is covering Switzerland with concrete. So they are trying to put the environmental burden on foreigners", he complains. "We have to be careful that ecology doesn't become a pretext for inward-looking attitudes and overly strong protectionism.

The state counsellor also regrets that individuals are made to feel guilty. According to him, change will come through the collective. We need state regulation. "It is good to turn off the lights on the way out. But at the end of the day, if our infrastructure, all the buildings and the transport network are too carbon intensive, you can be very green personally, but you can't compensate for the structural emissions of your country", he explains.

On the other hand, according to him, "if we live in a society where we have made the right investments, where all buildings are insulated, where all the people can take the train instead of their car, if we live in a society of short distances for food.... In short, if we are really an ecological society, we don't care about ecology. It's a liberation."