December 16

Switzerland in a globalised world

Sustainable development becomes more important due to the negative and positive effects of worldwide globalisation. How can one measure the globale influences of our lifestyle? In order to measure the global dimension of sustainable development in Switzerland the Federal Office of Statistics presents indicators looking beyond the borders.

Indicators show that Switzerland increasingly assumes its global responsibility:

• To facilitate developing countres the access to the Swiss market import duties are gradually reduced.
• More multilateral agreements concerning economy, finances, environment and social matters become effective.
• Swiss consumers purchase increasingly fair trade products.

Other indicators show that there is still room for improvement concerning use of global natural ressources for sustainable development:

• Switzerland increasingly transfers the use of natural ressources to other countries.
• Energy consumption is on the increase and depends heavily on imports. 80% of energy needs are imported.
• To reach the Kyoto goal Switzerland must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 8,8%.

In the quiz you learn more about the new global indicators in the Swiss monitoring system.

Further indicators on the global dimension of Swiss sustainable development
>> In the MONET indicator system

Internationally better comparable data on sustainable development are available. On EUROSTAT you may find conclusive data from European countries on 10 themes .
>> EUROSTAT Indicators for sustainable development
>> The Millennium Development Goals Indicators