Our contribution to climate mitigation – What can we do personally and what can Switzerland do?

The graph shows clearly that we have already achieved a lot since 1990, especially in the household sector. Nevertheless, it shows that climate-relevant emissions must be reduced even more. The high CO₂ emissions from the “Transport” and “Households & Services” sectors are almost exclusively the result of the use of fossil fuels: gasoline for private cars, diesel for trucks, crude oil and natural gas for heating. These areas should therefore become the main focus of our effort, since emissions in these areas must be reduced to almost zero by 2050. Most of the remaining emissions will still come from agriculture and industry, which are difficult sectors to decarbonize at the source. In order to achieve the net-zero 2050 emissions target, this part will have to be compensated with negative emission technologies, or NET, that are responsible for capturing more CO₂ than they emit, leading to so-called negative emissions. Examples include technologies to capture CO₂ from the air, as demonstrated by the ETH spin-off Climeworks, or through innovative processes in cement production, which another ETH spin-off, Neustark, is developing. The process to store captured CO₂ underground is termed “Carbon Capture and Storage” (CCS).

But what can we do by ourselves?

Let’s focus on the energy part for now: what can each of us actually do to make a difference? Some examples of what we can do:

• decide to buy an electric car instead of a gasoline-powered one (or forgo buying one altogether and use car sharing, public transport, or a bike).
• invest in a heat pump for the next building refurbishment instead of replacing oil heating with a fossil fuel solution again.
• commit to flying less at the workplace (since Covid19 we know that video conferencing works quite well, see also the interview with the ETH President, Joël Mesot).
• choose vacation destinations that can be reached by train or other sustainable means of transport.
• ensure that our money is invested in renewable energy sources.

This list is of course not exhaustive and should be seen as an inspiration. But these are certainly measures that have a major impact on the evolution of climate-relevant emissions.

You may think that all these decisions require a large personal investment. But the opposite is often the case, because the perceived comfort is often actually higher: anyone who has ever driven a state-of-the-art electric car, or who uses a car-share scheme and need not be concerned about repairs, or who has recently refurbished their house, can confirm this. And it also reduces noise and improves the quality of the air in our cities and neighbourhoods, with important benefits for our health. In terms of cost, too, these new technologies are now no longer more expensive – or only slightly more – over their lifetime, whilst some savings are to be had, for instance, train tickets are often cheaper than long-haul flights. This is without taking into account external costs such as the environmental impacts.

What can Switzerland do?

Of course, the strong electrification of the transport and building sector also leads to an increasing demand for electricity. In addition, global warming leads to an additional electricity demand for the active cooling of buildings.  Therefore, we will most certainly have to strongly expand photovoltaics in particular. We have enough space for this, almost exclusively on existing roof surfaces. The costs for photovoltaics have fallen so much in recent years that this expansion is also economically viable or even financially rewarding over a longer period of time, even for tenants or communities. In addition, the power supply must be made more intelligent, data must be used effectively, and storage facilities must be expanded. And finally, smart regulations need to be put in place to enable the significant investments required.

The massive expansion of renewable energy sources and the electrification of the transport and building sectors will also increase the demand for materials, especially metals (including copper, lithium, cobalt). This can only be implemented sustainably if these metals are consistently recycled. Thus, it is also important to optimize the corresponding processes and to build up the necessary recycling industry. 

In Switzerland, we have all the prerequisites to be able to implement such a transformation and demonstrate to our neighbours and the world how this is feasible technically, economically and socially: we have the financial means, we have the infrastructure, we have the necessary manual skills, and last but not least, we have world-class universities that can accompany and drive the process scientifically. Let’s join forces to make Switzerland a showcase country in the transformation of the energy system toward a sustainable supply!