Adapting to climate change: Lessons for Swiss Civil Protection

This Center for Security Studies (CSS) Risk and Resilience Report has the aim to complement a 2021 analysis by the Swiss Federal Office for Civil Protection, which outlined action points and predicted incident management needs until 2040 in response to climate change.

Climate-​exacerbated hazards have left an indelible mark on Europe in recent years. Switzerland has had a national climate change adaptation strategy in place since 2012. However, it is clear from the increasing frequency, intensity, and scale of climate-​exacerbated hazards in Europe that more adaptation and better cooperation across cantonal and international borders are needed.

The desk-​based research of secondary resources in combination with semi-​structured interviews revealed that recent climate-​exacerbated hazards have led to tangible changes within the civil protection systems of the studied countries. Two particular lessons applying to all analyzed countries are therefore presented in this study, followed by eight particular pathways that can assist Swiss Civil Protection.