Sustainable investments are not a burden on traditional investment practice. This is what Dr. Lars Kaiser, Assistant Professor at the Chair of Business Administration, Banking and Financial Management at the University of Liechtensteinin a study. For this he has now received the first prize in the "2019 Call for Papers Contest" of the American Brandes Institute.

The title of his article is "ESG Integration: Value, Growth and Momentum". ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance. These three aspects summarize areas of action that sustainably protect nature, ensure social progress and improve governance standards.

According to a Media release Kaiser's ESG study represents a direct interface to the "ESG Kompakt" event at the University of Liechtenstein. All the major associations in the Principality could have been won over for this.

Kaiser's work provides detailed results on the financial effectiveness of ESG integration in combination with mainstream active investment styles, he said. "In particular, it shows that U.S. and European value, growth and momentum investors can increase the sustainability performance of their portfolios without compromising financial performance." According to the media release, the findings contribute to the growing demand for sustainable products.

The Federal Council sees great opportunities for a sustainable Swiss financial center. It wants to create the framework conditions that will allow the financial center to be competitive in the area of sustainable finance.

Internal working group

As part of its June 26, 2019 debate on a sustainable Swiss financial center, the Swiss government established an internal working group and tasked it with various clarifications on this issue. Led by the State Secretariat for International Financial Matters (SIF), the working group also consults with stakeholders in the financial market industry and interested external bodies, in close cooperation with the FOEN and other authorities such as the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

One of the tasks of the working group is to discuss financial market regulation from a sustainability perspective.

Targets

Any need for action must meet the following overarching objectives: Increasing the competitiveness of the Swiss financial center, namely improving its ability to meet the demand for sustainable financial products, and achieving the climate targets. Accordingly, the Federal Council has now instructed the FDF to examine the following points in greater detail from the perspective of climate and environmental risks or their effects:

1. obligation to systematically disclose relevant and comparable information to customers, owners and investors; 2. strengthening of legal certainty in connection with due diligence obligations; 3. consideration of climate and environmental risks or their effects in all matters relating to financial market stability.

The Federal Council's policy on sustainability in the financial sector is guided by the principle of subsidiarity of government action and the primacy of market-based approaches. These principles will also have to be taken into account when considering the above issues.

In spring 2020, the working group will present its conclusions on the impact of the EU Action Plan for a Sustainable Financial Sector on the Swiss financial center and take stock of the measures taken so far by the public sector and the financial industry.

www.admin.ch

Not only the opening ceremony of Swissbau sounds promising. Swissbau and bauenschweiz, the umbrella organization of the Swiss construction industry, certainly welcome all those interested in construction to the opening ceremony of Swissbau 2020. However, when it comes to innovative, sustainable technologies and projects, there are quite different events.

In the so-called "Tour d'horizon", exciting future questions of the construction industry can be discussed. In the second part of the celebration, for example, the question "How will we live in the future?" will be explored with futurologist and trend researcher Professor Timo Leukefeld. In the context of a panel discussion with top-class guests from the construction industry, the first sustainable building trends could be addressed.

Swissbau is made up of the three sections of the trade fair (exhibitors and their products and services), Swissbau Focus (event and networking platform) and Swissbau Innovation Lab (special show for digital transformation). These three formats are based on the life cycle of a property and are continuously developed in collaboration with leading partners.

In this way, Swissbau offers exhibitors and visitors alike a live experience platform with a high level of relevance, topicality and interdisciplinarity. "The expansion of Swissbau with the areas of energy in buildings, building automation and building security meets the growing need for interdisciplinary networking. Collaboration is essential in times of change," explains Rudolf Pfander, Exhibition Director of Swissbau. "Our integrative trade fair concept opens up new target groups for everyone."

The motto of Swissbau 2020 is "Trial and Error - Courage for something new? The Swiss construction and real estate industry stands for quality and consistency; but established processes are increasingly being called into question. Consequently, the future belongs to interdisciplinary teams that leave familiar paths to find the best solutions.

Two trade fair tips at SWISSBAU in advance:

2000-Watt Areas in Switzerland

The "2000-Watt-Area" invites you to three professional events during Swissbau. Join us for a discussion about sustainable and smart Site and neighborhood developmentThe events will focus on the similarities and differences between the SNBS Building Construction and 2000-Watt certification systems, as well as the transformation of the building stock through the new "In Transformation" label. The events will take place as part of "Swissbau Focus", the platform for experts and decision-makers.

Daylighting techniques then and now

This is the motto of the two companies Bewilux AG and Rodach AG at the upcoming Swissbau. In addition to a completely new appearance on a very spacious stand, the two companies will present their innovative products on the topics of glass architecture, skylight domes, roof egresses, SHEV technology and fall-through safety. Customer satisfaction is the top priority here.

The qualified employees are committed to their customers with joy day after day. Through competent and professional advice as well as the first-class quality of the products, coupled with the highest level of energy efficiency, the two companies ensure the sustainable value of the properties, flexible delivery readiness and expert installation team included.

www.swissbau.ch

The focus was on the exchange on the innovation driver Homo Sapiens as well as insights into the latest innovations and the ethical questions that these innovations raise. Around 120 participants attended the HSR Innovation Conference on November 6 on the topic of "Man as Innovation Driver". Five speakers provided insights into new technologies and gave rise to exciting discussions.

"Human pilots" always important 

Humans have millions of years of small evolutionary steps behind them. From hunter-gatherer to the dominant species on earth. Today, human innovations have overtaken human evolution. Innovative technology and its application make man a powerful shaper of his environment, independent of physical abilities. A power that also comes with responsibility.

As a vivid introduction, Prof. Dr. Christian Bermes from HSR and exoskeleton pilot Thomas Krieg presented the innovations that technology can provide for paralyzed people today. Krieg is a pilot in one of two HSR Cybathlon teams. He pilots an exoskeleton developed by HSR and ETH engineers and students that enables him to stand up from a seated position and complete a course while walking, despite his paralysis. The second HSR pilot Florian Hauser, also paralyzed, can climb stairs with his high-tech wheelchair constructed at HSR or open and close doors with a robotic arm.

The two teams from HSR are taking part in the ETH Cybathlon competition, a unique competition in which people with disabilities compete in completing tasks relevant to everyday life using the latest assistance technology. "So we are practically allowed technical doping for our athletes," Bermes specified to laughter from the audience.

In the course of the discussion between Bermes and Krieg, it became clear that the development of both the wheelchair and the exoskeleton is not centered on machines, but on human pilots as the drivers of innovation. "Being able to stand up for the first time since my accident with the help of the exoskeleton was very emotional, because 50 students' work enabled me to talk to people at eye level again," Krieg said. During development, the individual body characteristics of the pilots must be taken into account at all times - for example, when controlling the devices or when adapting physical contact points between humans and machines.

Smart Building: How to live?
The presentation by Andreas Haas, who as Sales Manager of digitalSTROM AG in Schlieren, pursues the goal of fully networking as many buildings as possible, had a completely different focus. According to Haas, almost 10,000 buildings in the DACH region are already "smart", i.e. digitally networked and controllable - from blinds and household appliances to alarm systems and heating systems.

Although the innovation lies in building technology, control systems, sensors and devices, the innovation driver is also here: People. Because people will only network their buildings if they perceive smart homes as useful. According to Haas, the benefits can range from self-learning climate control to suit the wishes of the occupants to emergency or assistance systems for elderly or physically impaired people. Haas' grandmother served as an example for the audience. "Her morning routine is the same every day - so a possible smarthome function could be to have the house check to see if that routine is happening and if not, for example, send a message to her family or her doctor to check on her once," Haas said.

AI as a personnel planner
Dr. Alexander Grimm, CEO of Aspaara Algorithmic Solutions AG from Zurich, followed in the same vein - assistance functions for people. The company's main product is software that uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to suggest staff schedules for companies with many employees. "Our system suggests fully comprehensive deployment plans with the goal of always scheduling the best employees at the right time for the tasks at hand. This should give human planners more time to handle complex cases," Grimm said. In the case of a company with a large number of field staff, for example, the system has reduced unnecessary business trips by 25 percent, Grimm said.

In the audience, the idea of automatic staff scheduling met with critical interest. "Isn't it a special stress factor if every minute is automatically scheduled?" was one question, to which Grimm replied, against the background of employee satisfaction becoming an increasingly important factor for companies: "Ideally, the individual employee doesn't notice anything at all about our system, but simply notices that the work scheduling fits his or her own preferences pretty well - for example, in terms of tasks or times."

Ethical support for innovations
Finally, ethicist Dr. Johan Rochel, founder of the ethix innovation ethics lab, gratefully took the previous presentations and used them as examples of where innovations raise ethical questions. For example, he said, automated workforce planning is useful, but "artificial intelligence is a black box - what exactly is happening in decision making?" If such systems were used in the future in the judiciary, for example, where judgments can have massive consequences for the individuals being judged, Rochel said it would be necessary to ensure that "you can understand exactly how the machine arrived at a particular decision."

Rules for dealing with innovations are important, he said. For example, data ethics must answer questions such as "What data is collected about people and under what circumstances do which systems have access to that data?" while ensuring that it remains traceable "how artificial intelligence has used and processed the data to make decisions, generate analyses or trigger automated actions," Rochel said.

Using sustainability as an example, Rochel showed that society is not powerless when it comes to getting companies to account for the way they make money. "In the past, companies only focused on making money, sustainability was not an issue." But these days, he says, public pressure for greater transparency is so high that companies are constantly having to justify how environmentally and socially responsible they make their money. "For many companies, that may be greenwashing, but the important step has been taken, justification has become the standard." The same principle can be applied to the collection and use of data, he said.

www.hsr.ch

It could become more difficult for Switzerland to exert influence in European energy policy. Moreover, the expansion of renewable energies depends primarily on united political support at home, emphasize Swiss researchers who point out possible energy deficits in the "National Energy Research Program".

As part of the National Energy Research Program, scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) and the University of St.Gallen (HSG), the question of what Switzerland would face if negotiations on an electricity agreement failed was explored. Now, in a Communication informed about where the advantages and disadvantages for Switzerland lie. According to her, Switzerland would face "uncertain but in any case serious consequences".

Keyword: EU Single Market 

With the expansion of the EU's internal energy market, Switzerland has already lost influence, writes the Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF. "Switzerland has become more dependent on the EU, and vice versa is less and less true," Matthias Finger of EPFL is quoted as saying in the statement. "Without an electricity agreement, Switzerland is threatened with further exclusion in the regulation of central energy matters."

Without an agreement, Switzerland would also face a higher trade deficit in the energy sector, the report continues. This could rise to around CHF 1 billion by 2030. Trade and balancing of the grid by Swissgrid will also become much more difficult without an agreement.

Uncertain, but in any case serious effects

Against this background, the researchers investigated the political and economic effects of two contrasting scenarios: a "direct Europeanization" via a bilateral electricity agreement and an "indirect Europeanization" without an electricity agreement (for example, through autonomous adaptation to the European legal framework).

Impact on renewables? 

By contrast, the researchers do not see a direct impact of an electricity agreement on the expansion of renewable energies. "With or without an electricity agreement, an energy policy that is geared toward the long term and beyond the electricity sector is crucial for the energy industry, overall economic development and the achievement of climate targets," Finger says. "However, such a policy is lacking." Peter Hettich, co-author of the research program, puts the effects on the expansion of renewable energies in concrete terms: "Today, individual issues tend to be regulated on an ad hoc basis. For many investors in renewable energy, however, reliable framework conditions are now more important than the question of financial support."

(Matthias P. Finger and Paul van Baal: "CH-EU - Beziehungen unter Strom", Chronos Verlag, to be published in 2020)

Further points on the "National Energy Research Program" can be found at here 

At the opening of COP 25, the environmental summit in Madrid, the heads of government and state of only 32 countries gathered, slightly more than a year ago in Katowice (25). However, there are fewer in 2019 than at the 2015 Paris negotiations (120). Many lofty goals were proclaimed far and wide, but action remains elusive.

"The international emissions trading system planned for the period after 2020 is still in its in contradiction states between transparency and robustness on the one hand and the desire of the developing countries after grants for climate adaptation and coping with unavoidable climate damage on the other hand," explains Reimand Schwarze, Professor of International Environmental Economics at the Frankfurt Viadrina, and scientific advisor to climate reporter°. 

At the beginning of the conference reported the World Meteorological Organization the highest concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere since time immemorial. And global emissions of CO₂ and other climate gases climbed to an unprecedented record level of 55 billion tons per year. But how do you tackle such pressing environmental issues?

Russia, just acceded to the Paris Agreement, was conspicuous by its absence at the start. China and India were also not represented and showed little profile in the first week. Shortly before the start of the summit, the USA had demonstratively their resignation from the Paris Agreement and will actually do so unless there is a change of government in Washington in 2020. The world's major "emitters" therefore show no will to take the reins for the environment.

The only ray of hope: the EU. The new Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised trillion in investments in climate protection, a so-called "Green Deal" for the world. Everything necessary for this would be tackled in just a few weeks. This was a clear commitment to a claim to leadership in the community of states, but concrete solutions are not currently on the table.

"More likely," comments Raimund Schwarze, environmental economist and also a researcher at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ, on the starting position of COP 25, "is the hoped-for turnaround, a mini-deal. The EU has issued as a minimum target for Madrid, the Complete Katowice set of rules, that is, to negotiate the chapter with the emissions markets."

Current give and take 

The Confederation of States demands "transparent and robust" rules for international emissions trading. This means: no double counting of CO₂-savings, no transfer of Fake credits from the time of the Kyoto Protocol. Instead, the aim is to achieve high-quality, additional emission reductions in developing countries.

The European Union has Switzerland and important countries in Asia and Latin America such as South Korea and Mexico on its side in this regard. For the rest of the world, this would be acceptable. Even Brazil, which at last year's climate summit and also the entire first week in Madrid massively braked, seems to be slowly relenting in parts. Negotiations could thus move from stagnation to normal give-and-take.

Poor countries demand fair share

The countries of Africa and the least developed countries in Asia and Central America want above all to share in the economic benefits of emissions trading. "They," says Raimund Schwarze, "are demanding a fair share here. For example, a tax on traded emission rights. Such tax revenue could be used, for example, in the UN Fund flow to help these countries adapt to climate change."

The climate summit will also discuss aid money in the event of Damage and losses from extreme climatic. The fact that the international community guarantees such aid is particularly important for the world's poorest countries. For them, the channel through which the money comes is secondary, although this is also a point of contention in Madrid.

Whether the funds are used as subsidies for insurances or as direct aid in the form of early warning in the event of disasters, or via a new fund, does not play such a major role - the main thing is that money flows and helps these particularly vulnerable states and regions.

Live from the COP 25:  The 25th UN Climate Change Conference will take place in Madrid from December 2 to 13. Climate reporter° is on site and reports directly 

Last Thursday, the European Commission published EU rules for refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, televisions and lamps. Under the leadership of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) as well as the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and the German Federal Environmental Agency collaborated on the measures.

Ecodesign Directive

Within the EU, the Ecodesign Directive regulates the minimum requirements for the environmentally compatible design of energy consumption-relevant products, and labels with the familiar colored scale provide information about the energy efficiency class.

Household electrical appliances produced or imported for the European market from spring or fall 2021 will have to further reduce their energy consumption in the future. For the first time, the regulations also include requirements for reparability and recyclability. This is intended to extend the service life of the appliances and facilitate their maintenance, reuse and recycling.

Manufacturers must also keep many spare parts on hand for up to ten years after a model was last placed on the market, as well as repair instructions.

In terms of efficiency 

From March 2021, refrigerators, washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers, monitors and televisions and, from September 2021, lamps will be identified with a new energy label.

The "plus classes" disappear and the scale again ranges from A to G. Efficiency class A remains free for the time being. This is an incentive for manufacturers to return to the top class through further innovations in the coming years. The familiar color gradation from red to dark green will be retained in a new design. A QR code will become part of the labels: This means that in future it will be possible to read out additional information on the respective device using a smartphone.

"The Ecodesign Directive continues to be a European success story in terms of energy savings and now also resource efficiency. The new ambitious requirements ensure that all actors in the European Union act according to the same rules and that the circular economy is driven forward," says Dr. Floris Akkerman, Head of the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Unit at BAM.

According to the EU Commission's estimate, the new regulations will save around 167 terawatt hours of energy per year by 2030. This is equivalent to Denmark's annual consumption or over 46 million metric tons of CO₂.

www.bam.de

As a leading building materials distributor, HG COMMERCIALE (HGC) is confronted with strong market changes: Intensified competition, margin erosion, cooling of the construction industry and direct sales by manufacturers. In addition, advancing digitalization and employees' expectations of a modern workplace pose additional challenges.

HGC is a leading, purely Swiss service company for the Swiss construction industry. The cooperative supplies its customers, construction companies from all sectors, with a wide range of building materials, timber, roofing and cladding materials, gypsum and drywall products, and construction tools at 41 sales outlets throughout Switzerland.

Customer proximity and rapid adaptation of the product range are match-decisive

An attractive range of products and services and simple ordering processes are essential and the real added value for HGC customers. With the collaboration platform Valo - a ready-to-go intranet based on MS SharePoint - and proven implementation concepts, Beetroot provided a modern digital workplace.

"The way in which companies work together is changing fundamentally. HGC has recognized this and implemented the project mindfully and - despite reorganization - with impressive consistency." Andreas Naef, Managing Partner, Beetroot AG.

Strategic realignment of IT and organization

HGC is consistently implementing the strategy adopted in 2017 with a new sales organization and the modernization of the IT infrastructure. One of the sub-projects dealt with the renewal of the intranet and the transfer of the in-house MS Office and SharePoint applications to the cloud (Office 365). In the process, HGC attached importance to the inclusion of all employees in order to make optimal use of the new collaboration tools such as MS Teams or Yammer.

The decision for Beetroot AG as project partner was made after a comprehensive evaluation. "SOPHIA (project name) has the potential to change the culture of HGC in a sustainable way. The way we work together, how we communicate, help each other and share knowledge." Gregor Barmet, COO, HGC.

www.hgc.ch

www.intranet-loesung.ch

Technology company Rubicon, which provides cloud-based waste management, recycling and smart city solutions for businesses and governments worldwide, and Helvetia Environnement, the Swiss leader in waste management, today announced the signing of an agreement to help the waste and recycling industry achieve greater efficiency, transparency and innovation on a national scale.

Recyclable materials recycling 

The Helvetia Environnement Group's area of activity includes waste collection, waste management and recycling of recyclable materials. As part of its circular economy, the company also generates energy from waste. The Swiss market leader is committed to sustainable solutions for its customer network, which consists of around 500 public sector clients and 15,000 private customers. Through the new cooperation agreement, Helvetia Environnement will use the platform provided by Rubicon in both individual vehicles and fleet management.

This can reveal cost-saving opportunities and avoid landfilling waste. Thanks to data analysis, operations can thus be improved. By using modern technologies, Rubicon aims to make businesses more sustainable and transform cities into greener, smarter places to live and work. In doing so, Rubicon's mission is to eliminate waste in general by helping its partners derive economic benefits from their waste streams and successfully achieve their sustainability goals.

Rubicon achieved B-Corp certification as proof of meeting the highest social and environmental standards. Helvetia Environnement is a Swiss group of companies that offers complete waste management solutions to municipalities, public and private clients, and private households. Its network of sites is divided into 13 recycling plants, 9 collection points, 1 biofuel plant, 1 biowaste treatment plant and 1 plant specializing in hazardous waste / dangerous waste.

Find out the latest news from Helvetia Environnement at http://www.helvetia-environnement.ch 

Insights into Rubicon's environmental innovations are available at http://www.rubiconglobal.com

The Swiss Sustainable Building Standard SNBS is a valuable tool for implementing the Federal Council's energy policy and sustainability strategy. In order to achieve a high dissemination of the standard, it has been continuously developed and made more user-friendly in recent years. Despite the proven good quality of SNBS 2.0, the inhibition threshold for its application remains high among architects and project developers because the effort required for a comprehensive sustainability assessment according to SNBS can seem burdensome.

A high level of awareness and, above all, the widespread application of the standard would inevitably lead to a sensitization of the building industry with regard to energy efficiency and to an increase in a holistic approach to sustainability in the building sector.

Minimizing the effort involved in the initial approach to the standard by architects, specialist planners, builders or investors on the basis of a so-called "pre-check" therefore appears to be crucial. It would ultimately lead to an increased application of the standard and to an increase in the number of SNBS projects, which in turn would contribute to the sustainable development of the building stock.

The SNBS 2.0 "Pre-Check" will provide concrete statements on the sustainability of a building project with a relatively small expenditure of time (approx. ½ day), by answering simple questions that are also understandable for inexperienced users. This should be checked against the project-dependent, relevant criteria of the SNBS 2.0. Possible stumbling blocks for a sufficient project evaluation can thus be identified in an early phase of the construction project and necessary measures can be initiated.

You can find more information about the "Pre-Check here 

Axpo also wants to use the Limmern pumped storage plant to produce solar power. As the Baden-based energy company writes, it is planning a solar plant with 6000 photovoltaic modules and an area of 10,000 square meters on the Muttsee dam. The plant is to have an installed capacity of 2 megawatts and generate 2.7 gigawatt hours of electricity per year.

The "PV Muttsee" project envisages a plant with an installed capacity of 2 megawatts and an annual electricity production of 2.7 gigawatt hours. A good 6,000 PV modules are to be installed on an area of 10,000 square meters. Axpo will submit the corresponding building application in the next few days. "The Muttsee dam is exceptionally well suited for photovoltaics," says Christoph Sutter, head of new energies at Axpo. "We have an existing infrastructure that has a grid connection and faces south and is therefore optimally exposed to the sun. In addition, the plant is located at an altitude of almost 2,500 meters and thus provides a lot of electricity, especially during the winter months."

Photovoltaic plants in the alpine region deliver - unlike plants in the lowlands - about half of their electricity production in the winter half-year. There are several reasons for this: At high altitudes, there is less fog and correspondingly more solar radiation. In addition, the efficiency of PV modules is higher at low temperatures. And finally, the sunlight is reflected by the snow cover, which leads to a higher solar power yield in winter.

The solar project at the Muttsee dam is unique and trend-setting in Switzerland. Axpo will therefore apply to the SFOE to include the plant in the list of lighthouse projects.
In addition, Axpo is currently in discussions with potential partners interested in purchasing a portion of the solar power produced at Muttsee under long-term contracts.

Lack of winter power: Alpine PV as part of the solution

Switzerland consumes significantly more electricity in winter than it produces. This winter electricity problem will intensify in the coming years when existing large power plants in Switzerland and abroad are taken off the grid. During the last few years, renewable production capacity in Switzerland has been expanded, especially in photovoltaics on the Central Plateau (between 2013 and 2017, photovoltaics accounted for almost 90 percent of the expansion). However, this expansion does not alleviate the winter electricity problem. This is because photovoltaic plants on the Central Plateau deliver only a quarter of their electricity production during the winter months.

The plant is intended to contribute to electricity production, especially in winter, when Switzerland often consumes more electricity than it produces itself. It is located at an altitude of 2500 meters, well above the fog line. In addition, the reflection of sunlight by the snow increases the yield. According to Andy Heinz, head of production and grids at Axpo, more sites should therefore be expanded that are not located in protected areas and are already well developed. "However, the political and economic framework conditions must also be right for this."

The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) and its Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) studied what type of forest offers the best protection against hazards such as landslides. "The most diverse structures possible in the forest - both below and above ground - provide the best protection against landslides," the study leaders share in a recent press release.

New findings

Landslides and hillslope debris flows are mainly triggered by rain. Due to climate change and an expected increase in heavy precipitation, "shallow landslides and hillslope debris flows are likely to occur more frequently," the release states. The latest findings on the effect of forests on landslides are now summarized by several researchers in a special issue of the Switzerland. Journal of Forestry (SZF) together. What stands out is how important the condition of the forest is:

Very dense forests and windthrow areas protect less well against landslides than those with a stepped stand structure. On very steep slopes, however, forests reach their limits: On slopes steeper than 38°, there are even more landslides per area in forests than in open areas. Forests on very steep slopes are usually less maintained and are mainly located in higher and more inhospitable areas, where spruce, which is susceptible to disturbance (windthrow and bark beetles), is also particularly prevalent. Spruce trees do not have deep roots and are therefore easily carried away on steep slopes.

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL and the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF have demonstrated which type of forest provides the best protection using large-scale data sets on vegetation and natural events. They show that reforestation and natural disturbances, such as hurricane Lothar, which will mark its 20th anniversary in December, but also the skillful management of the forest can significantly influence its protective function against landslides.

"The most diverse structures possible in the forest - both below and above ground - provide the best protection against landslides," says Christian Rickli of the research team. This includes a good mix of different tree species as well as a diverse age structure of the trees.

For their investigations, the WSL researchers drew on information from their landslide database. Since 1997, data on more than 750 landslides have been recorded in this database. This information is now also available online available, but access is required for this.