Climate Change
Always following the sun
Research
Empa
Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees requires the energy system to be restructured as quickly as possible. But the speed of this transformation is physically limited. An Empa study now calculates the influence of energy storage systems on the maximum possible transition speed – and thus also on the probability of successfully mastering the climate crisis.
A dry wake-up call
Research
ETH Zurich
The 2022 summer was a further illustration of how climate is becoming more extreme year after year. Sticking to business-as-usual and counting on adaptation alone will not work. Only a rapid phase out of fossil fuels will prevent the worst, says Sonia Seneviratne.  
Heat and drought threaten the truffle harvest
Research
WSL
The truffle yield in Switzerland and southern Germany is declining. This is shown by a monitoring programme led by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL. The increase in extremely hot and dry summers best explains this decline. This is not only a culinary problem, but also an ecological one.
Climate change made the 2022 summer droughts more likely
Research
ETH Zurich
High temperatures, fuelled by climate change, dried out soils across Europe and the Northern Hemisphere this summer, finds a team of climate scientists led by ETH Zurich in the name of the World Weather Attribution group.
Alpine plants respond to climate change
Research
ETH Zurich
Researchers from ETH Zurich are studying how alpine vegetation is responding to a warming climate – and how some plant communities are continuing to stand firm against newcomers from lower elevations.
“Carbon dioxide can be turned into a valuable resource”
Research
ETH Board
The Swiss energy system is expected to be climate-neutral by 2050. The key to this is science: CO2 can be converted by electrolysis into raw materials for chemicals or synthetic fuels and the cost of a fossil-free energy system can be calculated using modelling.
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