Article

Climate wave could engulf development cooperation

22.03.2020, Financing for development, Climate justice

The Swiss Government plans to use as much as 400 million francs of development funds annually to fulfil the Paris Climate Agreement. That sounds good, but it is highly problematic, as it comes at the expense of the poorest.

Climate wave could engulf development cooperation

Fortification of the village Abdullah Pur against imminent flooding in the northeast of Bangladesh.

As of 2021, the Paris Climate Agreement signed in 2015 will take effect and become binding. Under the banner of climate justice, the Agreement commits industrialized countries to providing 100 billion US dollars annually in compensation for the countries in the global South, which without any responsible for causing it, are being hit hardest by the ever more obvious climate disaster. Switzerland too, in ratifying the Paris Agreement, committed to providing a «reasonable» amount for international climate funding. The Federal Council puts Switzerland’s responsibility at 450 to 600 million francs; however, anyone who, like Alliance Sud, also takes account of Switzerland's carbon footprint abroad will arrive at a billion francs annually. This is the first discrepancy. A second one arises from the Federal Council's Dispatch on the International Cooperation (IC) Strategy 2021-2024 [German version]: the Paris Agreement provides that «new and additional» funds must be mobilized for international climate funding. And what does Switzerland do? It increases earmarking for «climate projects» under existing lines of credit for development cooperation (DC) from 300 to 400 million francs per annum. New and additional funds? No chance.

Climate protection is not poverty alleviation

What at first glance looks like clever bookkeeping designed to avoid further burdening federal finances – which, it is worth noting, again recorded a surplus of billions this year – is much worse. The Federal Council plans to meet its climate obligations by hollowing out previous development work: climate projects undertaken without raising additional funds will be at the expense of promoting extensive healthcare, rural development or gender justice, empowering civil society, strengthening democracy and the rule of law or supporting appropriate educational opportunities. The purpose of climate funding is, after all, different from that of alleviating extreme poverty and reducing inequality, as it is geared towards managing future climate risks and does not per se aim to immediately improve present life circumstances.

The IC Strategy 2021-2024 published on 19 February 2020, which will be discussed in the first chamber of Parliament after committee deliberations during the summer session, does not go into detail as to the earmarking of individual budget items. With one exception: almost 20 per cent of all funds for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the State Secretariat for the Economy (Seco) are to be reserved for climate projects.

It makes perfect sense to delegate support for developing countries, including climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, to SDC and Seco. Who else would have the longstanding know-how and the requisite tools for effective measures on the ground? If, however, the additional expenditure involved is to be covered from existing DC credit lines without mobilizing new funds, two basic questions arise:

Can development projects also double up as valid climate mitigation and adaptation measures within the meaning of the Paris Agreement?
When is the use of development funds for climate measures justified?

Commissioned by Alliance Sud, FAKT consultants in Stuttgart (Germany) have analysed Switzerland’s climate funding since 2011 in order to provide answers to these questions. The author Christine Lottje carefully examined in particular the Federal Government’s implicit hypothesis that climate mitigation and development cooperation are equivalent, because – as stated in the new DC strategy – funds intended for climate projects «may always be used under the DC mandate to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development.»

The findings of the study, entitled Der Schweizer Beitrag an die internationale Klimafinanzierung [The Swiss contribution to international climate funding], are sobering: since 2011, contributions reported to the United Nations as «climate funds» have been increasing disproportionately vis-a-vis official development assistance (ODA). Spending of climate funds in countries with very high poverty levels or great vulnerability to climate change was a fraction of that taking place in middle-income countries (MICs) or for unspecified purposes under what are called global or regional programmes.

This is understandable from the standpoint of climate mitigation, in that it can reduce CO2 emissions most effectively in regions with comparably high per capita emissions, which tend to be urban regions in middle-income countries. The main target groups for development cooperation however – as stipulated by law – live in poor countries. In other words, most «climate projects» ignore the core tasks of development cooperation. From the description given, only three in ten projects focus on poor target groups or on poverty reduction. The study even identifies two Seco projects and one SDC project designated as climate funding, despite the absence of any recognizable link to climate or even where they encourage practices harmful to the climate.

Additional funds needed

The study confirms what Alliance Sud has been pointing out for years as a danger to Swiss development policy: the fact that SDC and Seco are being increasingly made to serve as the financiers of Switzerland's external environmental and climate policy, and that this is happening at the expense of the poorest in countries of the global South. Unless additional funds are raised, the money available for the core tasks of development cooperation will be diminishing steadily.

SDC reports that it is becoming increasingly difficult, in the framework of bilateral development cooperation – i.e. through programmes such as promoting health or education or strengthening civil society – to implement measures that also have a meaningful and effective climate impact.

There is still only a limited number of adaptation projects that offer genuine synergies with development cooperation proper and which would justifiably be (co)funded from development cooperation resources – for example the creation of seed banks, training for farmers and trainers in climate adaptation and resilience or capacity building for local authorities.

Expanding renewable energy sources in particularly poor regions is undoubtedly a legitimate and urgent development task. But because such projects entail opening up new regions rather than replacing any existing coal-fuelled power plants, they are not deemed to be projects that effectively reduce greenhouse gases within the meaning of the Paris Climate Agreement. It is therefore cynical to designate such projects as climate funding.

All this confirms the urgency of providing additional climate funding for infrastructure and mitigation measures on a scale commensurate with the needs. Development cooperation focused on poverty alleviation and effective climate mitigation and adaptation are not a priori mutually exclusive, but genuine synergies are possible only to a limited degree.

Opinion

Providencia: The fear never goes away

17.03.2021, Climate justice

In mid-November, hurricane “Iota” almost completely destroyed the Colombian island of Providencia. Its roughly 5000 residents lost everything, but are not giving up, says Hortencia Amor Cantillo, a direct victim.

The hell in paradise
© Hortencia Amor Cantillo

My husband, my two sons and I have already been through two hurricanes. In 2005 we were hit by hurricane “Beta”; that was nothing in comparison to “Iota”, however. Both times the hurricane struck at night. Of course, we did not know how strong “Iota” would be, we thought it might perhaps be a category 1 or category 2 hurricane. When I realised at 4 a.m. that we were already up to a category 4 hurricane, I was scared, not least of all because the wall of our house was shaking. It was frightening. When you’re struggling with the storm all night, you can’t see the fear on people’s faces, as everything is dark, including the sky. The first impression comes from the destruction and desolation that greets you at dawn. It was like being in a state of shock: you simply cannot believe all that you’re seeing in front of you.

No roof over your head

This hurricane hit my family very hard, above all emotionally. We felt disoriented – so great was the destruction that we had no idea where to begin. Moreover, our tourism business – the small inn (posada) that was our livelihood and what kept us alive – had been destroyed. The Children and Youth Centre which I ran was also largely destroyed. I am now trying to see how to pick myself up again.

For the moment we still have four guests at our house, we were 27 people at first, or five families in one house. Most of them have somehow organised themselves and cobbled together small dwellings with sticks and sheets of metal on the lots where their houses once stood. Learning to live with other people, to display solidarity and share things with one another was also a new experience for us. It is one thing to greet one another from time to time and to visit people, but quite another to live together with them. We have started preparing one large meal for everyone, with each person contributing what they can. I thank God that we were able to help others. Many people have lost everything, literally everything. Many were left with just the clothes on their backs. Many had taken refuge in small toilet houses made of concrete, some of which were at least able to withstand the storm. Shortly after the storm the government sent camping tents, but they were of poor quality. It has rained a lot and the water would seep into the tents from underneath. They are okay for a few days, but some people have now been living in them since November 16th. They are complaining, as everything is wet. Those who got tents set them up on the concrete foundations that remained where their houses once stood, or in their toilet outhouses. It is very hard on those who have lost everything. The storm swept everything away. Even the roof on the second floor of our house was blown off completely; we have found one or two pieces, but no-one knows where the roof is now. Still, we have been lucky.

Fortune in misfortune

An NGO arrived about a week after the hurricane and began distributing one warm meal per day. Its personnel are stationed in different parts of the island. Here in San Felipe they are based in the Catholic Church. At midday they ring the bells and people gather to get lunch and a fruit. They are still here, but they too are finding it tough, as the food is prepared on San Andrés Island and brought in by air to Providencia. They are now trying to find a way to prepare the meals here on the spot and so get around the complicated logistics, which sometimes means that meals do not arrive on time. So far we have their support, for which I thank God.

The first thing being done by the government is restoring the roofs of those houses that are still standing; many roofs have been donated by private persons. They are now being installed with the help of the army, the national police, the merchant navy and air force, civil defence and the Red Cross. They are all here and helping with the reconstruction. But the process is very slow, especially for those whose houses were completely destroyed and are being rebuilt last. For those whose houses are still partly standing, things are moving a little faster, but we do not know how long this will take. Meanwhile, they are all making their studies and plans. We are doing everything to speed things up. Naturally, there are things we need help with. We will need machines to rebuild the beaches, and there is a lot of debris precisely along the shore, which we cannot remove by ourselves.

We intend to stay here

Nature will take longer to recover from this. There are some very big trees here – we call them “cotton trees”. I have been living on this island for the past 26 years and I always see these huge trees with their thick trunks, they must be very old. Many of them have now been uprooted altogether, some are still standing but have lost all their branches and leaves. It will take many years for these trees to grow back. The coral reefs too have been destroyed, and their rehabilitation will take a very long time.

The hurricane season comes around every year from July to the end of November. The fear is ever present, but we think it is unlikely that another hurricane of this magnitude will hit us. And we are not the only ones in such a situation. The coasts of the USA, Mexico and Nicaragua are also at risk from hurricanes. We know that it can happen again and again. I agree with my husband that from now on, every house must have a section made of concrete where people can take refuge. But disasters, earthquakes and the like are happening all over the world.

Someone asked me if I would like to leave Providencia. I said no, as there is some kind of danger everywhere. It is sad and it hurts, but we are here and we intend to stay here. For us, Providencia is a little paradise and we will do everything to build back our paradise.

Article, Global

Who bears the costs of climate damage?

22.03.2021, Climate justice

“Treat the (climate) crisis as the emergency that it is” – this was the call made at this year’s Adaptation Summit by John Kerry, the new US Administration’s Climate Envoy. But those noble words were followed by scant financial commitments.

The South American "Pantanal" is one of the largest inland wetlands in the world. Since the beginning of 2020, it has been facing the most catastrophic fires in its history.
© Lalo de Almeida/Folhapress/Panos

global

The Alliance Sud magazine analyses and comments on Switzerland's foreign and development policies. "global" is published four times a year (in german and french) and can be subscribed to free of charge.

Article

Scant investment in resilience and adaptation

22.03.2021, Climate justice

Profound changes to ecological and social systems caused by global warming are now inevitable.

Scant investment in resilience and adaptation

Boat dock on the dried-up shore of Lake Gruyère in La Roche near Bulle, Canton Fribourg (Switzerland). The water level of the reservoir was lowered by around 15 to 20 meters in April 2020 to leave enough space for the melt water. The reason for the action was the record amounts of snow.

Even if the world community succeeds in reducing all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero over the next 15 years at most,[1] numerous communities and economies are already facing challenges that are in part impossible to overcome.

The poorest and most vulnerable will be the hardest hit, not just because climate-sensitive regions are already grappling with changing patterns of rainy seasons and dry spells, ever more extreme weather events and a slow but inexorable rise in sea level.

Even five years on from the adoption of the Paris climate agreement, the affected regions and people are still awaiting urgently needed financial and material resources. And regrettably, neither was there any follow-up by way of substantial financial commitments after the usual calls – most recently heard at the Dutch Adaptation Summit early in the year – for joint action in the face of the climate crisis. The high-sounding rhetoric would then have been matched by concrete action.

According to the OECD, the public climate finance provided so far by industrialised countries for adaptation in developing countries was USD 13 billion in 2018, of which two-thirds, it is worth noting, comprise repayable loans. Under the Paris climate agreement, however, the sum should be four times as much, or half the USD 100 billion per year pledged as of 2020. Besides, the OECD confirms a criticism voiced for years by Alliance Sud (see Study and key figures, March 2020): the poorest countries received just a fraction of the amount – according to the latest OECD numbers for 2018, just 14 per cent went to least developed countries, and 2 per cent to Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

This contrasts with rapidly rising climate costs. In the annual Adaptation Gap Report[2], the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates the current annual investment requirement for climate protection and resilience in developing countries at USD 70 billion. By 2030, annual adaptation costs in the global South will rise to USD 140-300 billion, and could be as much as USD 500 billion by 2050.

Rather than as “costs”, the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA)[3] characterises climate change adaptation as investments with a return on investment for the economy.[4] In a report published in September 2019, it estimates that the 1.8 trillion needed for resilient infrastructure or environmental adaptation measures such as the rehabilitation of dying coral reefs or the protection of mangrove forests will yield a net benefit for the regions concerned of USD 7.1 trillion.[5] Improved protection of coastal areas not only saves human lives and buildings, but also improves drinking water quality and secures sea-based income sources. Some adaptation measures such as reforestation have a far greater benefit, e.g. helping to protect species, and even potentially contributing directly to achieving the emission reduction targets of the countries concerned.

[1] According to IPCC, the atmosphere can still support at most roughly 320 gt (billion tonnes) of CO2 equivalent, if it is to have a 66 per cent probability of not surpassing the global mean temperature by more than 1.5°C. At the current (i.e. pre- and probably post-corona) worldwide emission rate of about 40 gt/year, the remaining budget would be exhausted in seven years. On a linear reduction path, the world community would have to cut all emissions to zero by 2035, and offset unavoidable (non-CO2) emissions (e.g. from agricultural land) through negative emissions, using methods as yet hardly developed and currently highly controversial.
[2] UNEP Adaptation Gap Report 2020: As the world continues to suffer from the Covid-19 pandemic as well as increasing climate impacts, ongoing environmental degradation, food insecurity and poverty, it is urgently necessary to provide adaptation funding to address the pressing needs and immediate requirements for the survival of local communities.
[3] The Global Commission on Adaptation was originally founded by the Netherlands and now comprises 20 countries, which support its mission to „develop a bold strategic vision to accelerate climate adaptation” and be a catalyst for global adaptation solutions around the world.
[4] The Global Commission on Adaptation speaks of a triple dividend: avoided losses, economic benefits (by reducing risk, increasing productivity, and driving innovation through the need for adaptation), as well as social and environmental benefits.
[5] Global Commission on Adaptation: ADAPT NOW: A GLOBAL CALL FOR LEADERSHIP ON CLIMATE RESILIENCE. https://gca.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/GlobalCommission_Report_FINAL.pdf

Article, Global

Disease symptoms of our climate are underestimated

06.12.2021, Climate justice

The significance of the climate crisis and its effects on the planet and us humans are still underestimated, despite science and extreme weather. Above all, decisive action is lacking in politics.

Disease symptoms of our climate are underestimated

Bernd Nilles, President of Alliance Sud and Director of Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund

Already in 1989 Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund used a poster campaign to highlight the hazards of climate change; but for 30 years only tiny steps were taken and global greenhouse gas emissions continued to rise. Today, there is consensus in the scientific community that we are already in a climate crisis that is having catastrophic consequences for a growing number of people, around the world, and here at home. Despite the science and the extremes of weather, the significance of the climate crisis and its implications for the planet and us humans is still being underestimated by the public. Most of all, there is a lack of decisive action on the part of politicians: even a climate summit like the one in Glasgow can accomplish only as much as the 190 national governments, including Switzerland, are willing to put on the table.

At COP26, Federal President Guy Parmelin rightly asserted that too little was being done. What he did not say was that rich countries like Switzerland in particular are shirking their responsibilities. That is why it is incumbent on us to keep insisting that the climate crisis is already a reality. In Africa, Asia and Latin America, people are grappling with floods and droughts stemming largely from the climate crisis. For them, it is a matter of survival. And in Switzerland too, the climate crisis is becoming ever more manifest.

This makes it all the more crucial for nongovernmental organizations, churches and the media also give a voice in Switzerland’s politics to the world's most vulnerable population groups. But for the past year, this would seem to be just what several "liberal" politicians have been striving to prevent through their attempts at intimidation in the wake of the Responsible Business Initiative. And how is it possible in parliamentary committees for some politicians who otherwise seize every opportunity to argue against bureaucracy and regulation, to support a motion by Council of States member Ruedi Noser, which, in bureaucratic terms, could hardly be more burdensome? A move to scrutinize all non-profit organizations for their political activity and to threaten to revoke their tax exempt status is nothing short of compounding the stark imbalance in our society.

Alliance Sud will continue to do the utmost to ensure that policy does not remain merely a matter of money and party political affiliation. The popular majority support for the Responsible Business Initiative a year ago is clear evidence that citizens want a Switzerland where politics and business do not serve only national and financial interests. For in many instances, these interests also hamper good climate policy. My wish for the New Year is that we pay serious attention to our world’s symptoms, prioritise people and the environment, and finally take decisive action.

global

Opinion

Switzerland must step up its game post-Glasgow

06.12.2021, Climate justice

The final declaration of the UN Climate Conference is by no means the end of the story – with the climate crisis intensifying and Switzerland's climate budget about to run out. From Glasgow Stefan Salzmann (Co-Chair of Climate Alliance Switzerland)

Switzerland must step up its game post-Glasgow

Tuvalu's foreign minister did his COP26 statement like no other by speaking behind a podium at sea, standing in knee-deep water.
© EyePress via AFP

Summer hail and rain in Switzerland, heatwave in Canada, fires in Greece and Russia, drought in Iran; and in August the science-based red alert in the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Climatologists state clearly that the scale of anthropogenic global warming has been unprecedented for many centuries, if not millennia. The frequency and intensity of heat extremes and heavy precipitation, and of agricultural and environmental droughts will increase and they will recur more and more often in combination. Changes already apparent today will intensify and become irreversible. Every 10th of a degree increase in the global average temperature makes a difference – especially for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable.

The new report published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in October, which compares the goals of the Paris Agreement with the promises made, finds that the targets submitted by countries are taking us towards global warming of 2.7 degrees. At the same time, UNEP also writes that still not enough funding is being provided for adaptation in poor countries: what is needed is up to 10 times what the industrialised nations are making available.

The will is there – but no-one is laying out a roadmap

In the circumstances, the United Kingdom organisers of the 26th World Climate Conference have shown much good will. New global initiatives were announced every day for the first week of the conference. "Global Coal to Clean Power Transition", "Stop Global Deforestation" or the "Green Grids Initiative" are but a few. A euphoric International Energy Agency reckons that this could put us on track to global warming of just 1.8 degrees – if all the promises are kept. This is precisely the problem: there is no implementation plan for any of these initiatives. The countries going along with the promises are the very ones which up to 2020 had failed to provide the climate funds promised back in 2009. Besides, should a country like Brazil sign up to the deforestation initiative, it would indeed be a glimmer of hope, but in terms of realpolitik, perhaps more of a death knell for this ambitious plan. Like all other ambitious plans, this one too leaves implementation up to voluntary political action by individual countries.

And Switzerland?

Switzerland too is under pressure: after even the small step of the revised CO2 Act proved too much for most citizens in June 2021, the delegation led by the Federal Office for the Environment went to Glasgow with no legal basis. On this occasion yet again, all negotiations on additional climate funding were blocked. At first glance the reasons are understandable – rich emerging countries should also help provide climate financing and it is not acceptable for China and Singapore to pass themselves off as developing countries, and to want to pay nothing. But this kind of argument from one of the world’s richest nations is of no use to those whose livelihoods depend on these decisions, i.e. the poorest and most vulnerable around the world. For them, stalled talks, irrespective of who is responsible, spell hardship, suffering and precarious survival strategies.

Loss and damage

The livelihoods of many are at stake, and for some, they have already been destroyed. In the technical jargon, “loss and damage” describes the irreversible problems stemming from climate warming: in other words, climate impacts that outstrip the adaptive capacity of countries, communities and ecosystems. When a family loses its home to rising sea levels, it is lost for ever. Such loss and damage is already occurring today and will be amplified with every temperature rise of one-tenth of a degree. This is why civil society has made this issue the top priority in Glasgow.

Switzerland’s climate budget almost used up

The fact that Switzerland is one of the richest countries with a history of emitting large quantities of greenhouse gases is not the only reason why it would be appropriate to help others that have already suffered damage. In September, social ethicists from 10 church institutions held discussions about remaining CO2 budget that is compatible with a climate justice. On the basis of scientifically proven data, they calculated the share of the gigatonnes of CO2 still globally available that would corresponds to Switzerland, should it elect to act in a climate-friendly manner. In so doing, the social ethicists did what climate science cannot: they weighted and interpreted model calculations in moral terms. The upshot was that the remaining climate-compatible amount of CO2 would be used up by the spring of 2022. This is further proof that the Federal Council’s strategy of targeting net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 no longer has anything in common with justice.

What next?

Occasions like the Glasgow climate conference should be seized by official Switzerland to demonstrate that our country takes justice seriously. Providing funds for other countries is one of the easiest ways to do this: funds for mitigation and adaptation additional to development credit lines. And additional funds for loss and damage that has already occurred. The groundwork for such negotiating mandates is laid domestically, during the preparatory phase. The same applies to national climate targets, which will need to be more ambitious, including for Switzerland, if the targets of the Paris Climate Agreement are to remain within reach. The debates on the indirect counterproposal to the Glacier Initiative and the upcoming relaunch of the revision of the CO2 Act are the last opportunities before it is too late. We need a net-zero target by 2040 at the latest, a linear reduction pathway there and we must be resolute in phasing out fossil fuels.

Opinion

The solution does not grow in rice paddies

06.12.2022, Climate justice

With Ghana, Switzerland is implementing the world's first foreign climate protection project under the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015. But this project misses the mark.

Andreas Missbach

Director

The solution does not grow in rice paddies

The climate circus on the African continent has taken down its tents again. Admittedly, there is, at last, a fund for loss and damage. However, the way it will be structured and, most importantly, how it will be financed, are still very open questions. On balance, the upshot of COP27 is: “It’s good that we have talked about it”, so let us now talk about something else.

At the very start of the conference, the New York Times threw a spanner in Switzerland’s works by publishing a critical article about its carbon offsets abroad. The first project to be implemented under a bilateral climate protection agreement between Ghana and Switzerland was unveiled five days later. In order to offset the Federal Government’s emissions, rice farmers in West Africa are to cease permanently flooding their fields. The intention is to reduce methane emissions. Implemented by the UN Development Programme, this project may well make perfect sense, but it misses the most significant challenges of reducing greenhouse gases in Africa.

Some 600 million people in Africa have no electricity, and two-thirds of their power is currently produced from fossil fuels. Yet it is possible to provide decentralized, reliable and CO2-free electricity. The money from the trade in indulgences in the form of emission certificates would best be dedicated to that purpose.

In the run-up to the conference, the UN’s Trade and Development organization pointed to an even bigger challenge: one-fifth of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa depend on oil exports. Other countries could also be exploiting fossil deposits. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, is currently putting new concessions up for auction; and as long as the USA and Australia continue to produce natural gas and coal, respectively, the North lacks any legitimacy whatsoever to preach self-denial to this extremely poor country. “Leave it in the ground” is a recommendation with a price, and Africa is unable to pay it.

It will also take enormous sums of money if today’s exporters are to forego their principal source of income. This would make it all the more crucial for the remaining oil revenues to be used for this transition, but a substantial portion of it has so far been squandered through corruption, embezzlement and mismanagement. Switzerland is in part responsible here, as borne out yet again by a court ruling in early November: Glencore employees were criss-crossing Africa with suitcases full of cash in order to obtain oil at bargain prices. Commodity trading needs to be regulated such that Switzerland ceases to bear any part of the responsibility for the resource curse. This could offer Switzerland a way of providing Africa with much more funding than by purchasing emission certificates derived from rice paddies.

Climate justice

Global climate justice

Switzerland bears responsibility for the global climate crisis, and must make its contribution to global climate justice. After all, people in the poorest countries are suffering the most from climate change, having contributed the least to it.

What it is about >

International climate policy

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Sundarbans National Park, West Bengal, India

Climate financing

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Offsetting abroad

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Swiss climate policy

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What it is about

Heat, droughts, floods and hurricanes – the impacts of the climate crisis are jeopardising the lives of ever more people in the Global South. Unlike Switzerland, the poorest countries bear no responsibility for the climate crisis, and yet their people are being disproportionately impacted by it. Switzerland has so far fallen short of its climate targets; its per capita greenhouse emissions are still far too high. But this responsibility extends well beyond its borders, in that two-thirds of Switzerland's footprint is attributable to imported goods. The Swiss financial and commodity trading centre plays an even greater role.

Alliance Sud strives to ensure that Switzerland shoulders its responsibility for global climate protection. Switzerland must become climate-neutral by 2040, by reducing its domestic emissions balance to zero and effectively cutting its consumption-related emissions abroad. As a polluter country, Switzerland must also pay its fair share of the costs confronting the Global South, for the purposes of emission control, climate change adaptation, and compensation for loss and damage caused by the climate crisis (see climate finance).

23.03.2023 , In the shadow of the volcano

23.03.2023 Climate justice

Sandy beaches, rum and colourful fish. That is the Caribbean from the travel catalogue. What is not mentioned is that the Caribbean islands are especially vulnerable to natural phenomena.

06.12.2022 , The miraculous increase in Swiss climate finance

06.12.2022 Climate justice

On paper, Switzerland has more than tripled its support to developing and emerging countries for climate protection in the last ten years. – Is that true? A look at the "accounting" of the Swiss Confederation.

06.12.2022 , The solution does not grow in rice paddies

06.12.2022 Climate justice

With Ghana, Switzerland is implementing the world's first foreign climate protection project under the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015. But this project misses the mark.

06.12.2021 , Disease symptoms of our climate are underestimated

06.12.2021 Climate justice

The significance of the climate crisis and its effects on the planet and us humans are still underestimated, despite science and extreme weather. Above all, decisive action is lacking in politics.

06.12.2021 , Switzerland must step up its game post-Glasgow

06.12.2021 Climate justice

22.03.2021 , Scant investment in resilience and adaptation

22.03.2021 Climate justice

Profound changes to ecological and social systems caused by global warming are now inevitable.

22.03.2021 , Who bears the costs of climate damage?

22.03.2021 Climate justice

17.03.2021 , Providencia: The fear never goes away

17.03.2021 Climate justice

22.03.2020 , Climate wave could engulf development cooperation

22.03.2020 Financing for development, Climate justice

Press release

The climate crisis must not undermine development

05.09.2019, Climate justice

In a position paper, Alliance Sud presents the links between climate justice and development cooperation and calls for Switzerland to fulfil its financial responsibility and the Paris Agreement.

The climate crisis must not undermine development

Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital two meters above sea level, in the monsoon rains on 26 July 2017.
© Abir Abdullah / EPA / Keystone

von Jürg Staudenmann, ehemaliger Fachverantwortlicher «Klima und Umwelt»

Switzerland has assumed international commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015; commitments also exist in the area of development cooperation. In a position paper, Alliance Sud analyses links and trade-offs between these two commitments and calls for Switzerland to meet its financial obligations.

Entitled "Climate Justice and International Climate Financing from a Development Policy Perspective", the paper discusses the purpose and significance of international climate finance in the context of sustainable development. For mitigation (reduction of greenhouse gases) and adaptation (protection against the effects of progressive climate change) in developing countries, the industrialized countries have committed themselves to mobilize an additional 100 billion US dollars as of 2021. – By ratifying the Paris Agreement, Switzerland agreed to make an appropriate annual. Due to its relative climate responsibility and its global economic strength, this fair share amounts to USD 1 billion per year.

While it is true that development and climate measures in developing countries can complement each other in a certain way, Switzerland must not finance this «climate billion» at the expense of existing development cooperation. This is all the more true as the funds for development cooperation still fall well short of the long-promised 0.7% of gross national income (GNI). Switzerland must fulfil its international (financing) obligations in both areas on its own and on an equal footing.

In the paper, Alliance Sud’s climate policy advisor Jürg Staudenmann criticizes the most recently dispatched draft «Strategy for International Cooperation 2021-2024». The Federal Council envisages to earmark up to CHF 400 million per year in the (stagnating) development aid budget for international climate financing. «It’s cynical to sell the same Swiss Franc to developing countries twice, once as official development assistance, and a second time as climate financing», Jürg Staudenmann said. Because climate-sensitive development projects are not yet «climate projects»; and vice-versa: Mitigation or adaptation measures are not aimed at simultaneously reduce poverty or increase living conditions of the poorest.

The paper presents solutions on how these funds can be mobilized on the basis of the polluter pays principle instead. Alliance Sud calls on the Federal Council and the Swiss parliament to take every step necessary to achieve this as a matter of urgency; for instance in the context of the new CO2-act that is debated in Swiss parliament in 2020.

Download the full position paper in its German and French version

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