Personal opinions of the Swiss on the topic of climate change

It is said that Swiss are skeptical about the effectiveness of measures against climate change, "to slow down" the process. The Swiss are also in favor of greater use of renewable energy. A majority believes that climate change is due equally to human activity and natural processes.

The main results of the European Social Survey 2016 for Switzerland on the topic of views on the environment:

• 98% of the population do not doubt the existence of climate change. The majority is very concerned about climate change, but only 44% believe that climate change is mainly or entirely due to human activities.
• The population in Switzerland is skeptical about measures to slow down climate change. Although the majority of the population (66%) considers it their personal responsibility to make a contribution in the fight against climate change, only one third (33%) think that reducing their own energy consumption could have an impact on climate change.
• Despite this general skepticism, the population in Switzerland is in favor of responsible consumption. The majority supports the idea that energy should come from renewable sources. The respondents are particularly in favor of hydroelectric, solar and wind energy. Just under 77% think that nuclear energy should not be used at all or only to a very small extent.
• In addition to the general concern about climate change, respondents are very worried about Switzerland's dependence on energy imports. More than half of the population (61%) is concerned about fossil energies, especially gasoline, gas and coal. 46% of the population also fear an increase in energy prices and that this will make energy unaffordable for many people in Switzerland.
• To encourage the use of renewable energy, 47% support an increase in taxes on fossil fuels by the government. In addition, the majority supports a legal ban on energy-intensive appliances. Finally, more than 80% are in favor of subsidizing renewable energies such as wind and solar power. According to the survey, the Swiss population also believes that the state should regulate energy production and consumption.

The brochure " ESS 2016 : Selected results in relation to Switzerland" can also be downloaded from the website of FORS be downloaded

On September 19, 2018, the ESS will officially present the results on "Public attitudes to climate change and energy" from the 2016 edition in Brussels. More information about the event can be found here

The European Social Survey:

The European Social Survey (ESS) is a scientific population survey that has been conducted in more than 20 European countries since 2002. Its aim is to study the attitudes and behavior of the European population from a comparative perspective. In Switzerland, the survey is conducted by the Swiss Competence Center for Social Sciences FORS, which is affiliated with the University of Lausanne. Switzerland has participated in all previous waves of the ESS survey, which take place every two years.

The data for the eighth edition of the ESS were collected in approximately one-hour face-to-face interviews with people aged 15 and older. In total, 23 countries participated in the survey. To ensure that the survey is representative, the participating individuals were selected by means of random sampling.

Further information on the ESS can be found at: http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org or http://forscenter.ch

The detailed Swiss data can be found in German or French on https://forsbase.unil.ch (Project No. 13102) can be downloaded.