Happy anniversary! It is now just one year since Swiss voters decided whether they want to live within the means of one Earth by 2050.
 |
| The Swiss aim to live within their means. |
If everybody on this planet lived like people in Switzerland today, it would take more than three planet Earths to provide all they demand.
Could Switzerland have moved to a one-Earth economy by 2050, as proposed by the ballot measure? Would it have been too fast? Would it be a loss or a gain?
The ballot’s goal was consistent with what the Paris Climate Agreement requires: to restrain global warming on average to less than 2 degrees Celsius depends on moving out of fossil fuel use way before 2050. Given the large fossil fuel dependence of Switzerland, making up 72% of the Swiss Ecological Footprint, and given the technical possibilities to decarbonize energy substantively, living up to the Paris goal would be consistent with achieving a one-Earth economy by 2050. That’s a goal the Swiss government already signed up for one year prior to the popular ballot.
No comments:
Post a Comment