Climate change harbours numerous risks for our society. Building on a recent climate risk analysis, INFRAS is conducting a supplementary study to analyse the vulnerability of the Swiss population to the various consequences of climate change in greater depth.
Vulnerability to climate change has many facets. On the one hand, it centres on the susceptibility or lack of resilience of parts of the population, for example due to their state of health or socio-demographic factors. On the other hand, coping and adaptive capacities also play an important role. This includes, for example, restrictions in access to public services or a lack of financial resources to cope with the changes and risks of climate change.
As part of a study for the Federal Office for the Environment, INFRAS will analyse which factors influence the vulnerability of the population in Switzerland, which population groups are particularly vulnerable and what can be derived from this for the design of measures to adapt to climate change.
Different climate risks – different vulnerabilities
The study is based on the climate risk analysis for Switzerland, which INFRAS updated on behalf of the Federal Office for the Environment between 2022 and 2024. The publication is planned for the next Forum Climate Switzerland, an important information and networking event in the climate sector, in June 2025.
The climate risk analysis has shown that the topic of vulnerability – except for the health effects of heat – is still given too little attention in Switzerland and that there is little knowledge on vulnerability for many climate risks. This is precisely where the continuing study on the vulnerability of the population in Switzerland comes in, which will now run until 2026.
Project team
