An environment worth living in – now and always

Switzerland has been elected to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee by the General Assembly of States Parties. The 25th session took place today at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The seat is for the 2025-29 period. The election is part of Switzerland's long-standing commitment to protecting cultural and natural heritage in the face of today's challenges.

On 20 and 21 November, Federal Councillor Albert Rösti will represent Switzerland at the 30th UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. At the conference, Switzerland will advocate for all states, especially those with high greenhouse gas emissions, to submit ambitious reduction targets aimed at implementing the Paris Agreement.

Switzerland will become drier and hotter, experience less snow and face heavier rainfall in the future. Those are the conclusions reached by climate researchers from its Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss) and ETH Zurich. On 4 November 2025, at an event attended by Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, they presented the new climate scenarios for Switzerland, which form the basis for the Federal Council's strategy on adaptation to climate change.

On 3 September, Switzerland signed two agreements with Denmark that enable the export and permanent storage of Swiss CO2 in Denmark. They also serve as a basis for further cooperation in the field of negative emission technologies. Denmark is Switzerland's second partner country for carbon storage after Norway. The Federal Council approved the agreements between Switzerland and Denmark on 27 August.

Federal Councillor Albert Rösti and FOEN Director Katrin Schneeberger will represent Switzerland at the fifth round of negotiations on a global agreement against plastic pollution from 5 to 14 August 2025. Switzerland is committed to an effective and practicable agreement to protect the environment and health, while emphasising the challenges of agreeing on a set of global rules.

In 2024, 4.8 million cubic metres of timber were harvested in Switzerland, a decrease of almost 2% compared with the previous year. A decrease was observed in the sawlog (–2%) and chopped fuel wood (–11%) categories, while the harvest of industrial roundwood (+4%) and fuel wood chips (+3%) increased. The wood chip share of the total harvest – now around 30% – has been growing for years. The share of fuel wood in the total timber harvest has almost doubled in the last 20 years. These are some of the new findings from the Forestry Statistics published by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).