The good news is that Switzerland is one of the three countries worldwide that are best prepared for climate change. Stable institutions, strong economic performance, good infrastructure and a high capacity for innovation – these are, according to researchers at the University of Notre Dame, the key reasons why they have placed Switzerland on the podium (in third place) in their ND-GAIN Country Index. In the «Vulnerability» sub-index, Switzerland even ranks first among the least vulnerable countries.
The bad news is that you're not really safe in Switzerland either.
The year 2025 was one of the three warmest on record. Extreme weather events such as storms, droughts, heavy rain, forest fires and rockfalls are on the increase. And there is no sign of things improving.
To give just one example: the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)recently reported that the recurring weather phenomenon El Niño is very likely to be one of the strongest on record in late autumn and early winter 2026 – with damage expected to run into the billions.
Problems caused by permafrost
Climate change is transforming the Earth at an unprecedented rate. And this applies not only to hard-hit places such as Bangladesh, low-lying islands in Oceania or regions that are being devastated in the truest sense of the word, but also to rather misty, cool places such as Fairbourne in Wales – the first village in the UK to be abandoned due to climate change.
In Switzerland, too, climate change is causing enormous problems, for example due to thawing permafrost. In May 2025, a glacier collapse and landslide occurred in the Lötschental valley in Valais. At that time, ten million cubic metres of rock, scree and ice came crashing down onto the village of Blatten. Currently, 150 locations in Valais alone are being monitored to prevent major disasters.
We have found that a certain degree of climate anxiety does not paralyse people or make them ill, but rather encourages children and young people to live in a more environmentally friendly way.
Stefanie Schmidt, Clinical Psychologist
Climate change is also altering our view of home. And it raises new questions for parents: what does it mean for a child when their own place of residence is given an expiry date? When reports of current and impending disasters are becoming ever more frequent? Many parents, including those in Switzerland, are increasingly wondering where a safe place might be where their children and grandchildren can still live well. And, more importantly, how to talk to children and young people about what lies ahead for them – without scaring them.
When does understandable concern turn into anxiety that makes you ill?
Stefanie Schmidt, Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence at the University of Bern, is conducting research into what triggers emotions such as anxiety in children and young people. As part of the «CLEMA – Climate Change and Mental Health in Adolescents» project , she is currently investigating how adolescents think and feel about climate change, how they cope with climate-related concerns, and which factors can encourage environmentally friendly behaviour.
«Many children and young people are worried about climate change and its long-term consequences. This is often referred to as ‹climate anxiety›. But this anxiety isn't necessarily a bad thing in itself,» says Schmidt. Anxiety always serves a purpose and can motivate people to do their best to prevent the very thing they fear from happening. «Our study and others show that a certain degree of climate anxiety does not paralyse people or make them ill, but rather encourages children and young people to live in a more environmentally friendly way,» says the researcher. This helps them experience a sense of self-efficacy – the anxiety turns them into active agents.
For most people, this issue is one of several areas of concern linked to worries about the future – such as fear of war, political instability or the question of what role AI and automation will play in their own professional future.
Alongside this more motivating form of anxiety, there is climate anxiety, which can make people ill. Schmidt lists clear signs: sleep disturbances, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, unusual eating habits and social isolation. «If climate anxiety has a severely negative impact on people's lives, those affected need help,» says Schmidt.
Include reliable sources
Social media in particular, with its algorithms that favour highly emotional content, creates a flood of information that can leave people feeling helpless and overwhelmed, says Schmidt. Parents can actively counteract this by reflecting with their children on the content they consume and consciously incorporating solution-oriented and reliable sources. Setting aside a fixed, age-appropriate time slot for news consumption can also help to ease the pressure.
For Schmidt, schools also play a particularly important role in prevention and health promotion, including in relation to climate change issues. As a place that reaches all children, regardless of their origin or socio-economic background.
Parents should talk about climate change, but without making it sound like the end of the world.
Stefanie Schmidt, Clinical Psychologist
Schmidt is also conducting research into community resilience. How can a community, a peer group, a class or a school work together to develop resilience and set up projects to feel more self-reliant? Unfortunately, however, as the researcher explains, there is a lack of a holistic, nationwide approach to prevention and the promotion of mental health. «Unfortunately, here too, it all comes down to the commitment of the school and the commitment of individual teachers,» she says.
Schmidt advises parents to talk to their children about climate change and its consequences at an early stage: «They should bring it up, but without making it sound like the end of the world.» It is always important, he says, to open doors to areas where children and young people can make a difference themselves. And also to share positive news about developments, solutions and hope. «After all, it's not just about climate anxiety and climate anger – that is, resentment towards corporations and previous generations – but also about climate hope. Things that are going well. And that is what adults can show their children: that taking action makes a difference,» says Schmidt.
From the staff room to the climate NGO
Miriam Bastian has been exploring for many years how schools and teachers can be self-effective in the face of climate change. Bastian completed her PhD in history at the University of Zurich, although climate change was hardly a topic at all during her studies.
But when Bastian started working as a teacher of Latin, German and history, the Curriculum 21 required her to teach Education for Sustainable Development. These topics were close to Miriam Bastian's heart. She enjoys spending time in the mountains, loves vegan food, lives in a sustainable housing project and tries to buy everyday essentials second-hand. And yet: «As a young teacher, I found it incredibly challenging to find good teaching materials,» she says.
And so she simply set about doing it herself. «It's very easy to demonstrate from historical sources that, for example, river pollution was a major issue in the Roman Empire – the Romans did not have the same standard of drinking water as we do in many parts of Switzerland today,» says Bastian. People back then were unfamiliar with the term «climate change», but the consequences of Roman society's actions can be found in surviving texts, in vivid accounts of rubbish in the Tiber or the consequences of the deforestation of vast woodlands in what is now France.
Pressure on schools is mounting
Word got round about the young teacher's dedication, and she soon began receiving enquiries – for example, from the free learning platform Planet-N – asking if she would like to share her teaching materials. She agreed and realised: «I can make an even bigger impact.»
There is no shortage of teaching materials these days. As a result, many teachers find themselves rather overwhelmed: «Teachers often no longer know how to select really good material from the vast amount available,» says Bastian. At the same time, the pressure on schools as a whole is mounting. In addition to digitalisation, new forms of learning and inclusion, climate education is now also to be implemented comprehensively.
Miriam Bastian now heads the «Climate School» programme under the umbrella of the Swiss association MyBluePlanet. Almost 50 schools in Switzerland have already completed the multi-year programme. The Climate School aims to support schools in implementing the long-term climate strategy of the federal government, the cantons and the local authorities. The focus is not on individual lessons, but on concrete changes to everyday school life – ranging from solar panels on school roofs and the nature-oriented enhancement of school grounds to clothes swaps and climate councils.
Bastian attaches particular importance to the action-oriented approach. «So many children feel powerless when it comes to climate change,» she says. That is why we need «explicit opportunities for action and a sense of hope». There are very tangible initiatives such as Blackout Day, a simulated power cut designed to show pupils what energy is actually used for and how it is produced.
The security business
Bastian talks about a school where littering and vandalism have fallen sharply following the redesign of the school grounds: «The pupils really felt they were an active part of the school.» Parents, too, could play an active role here. The key now is to embed climate education permanently in everyday school life – not as a short-term project, but as part of the school's long-term development.
The search for a supposedly climate-resilient home has long since become a market – one with growth potential. To give just one example: in the US, Michael Hanrahan has set up climatehaven.com, a combination of an educational platform promoting greater climate resilience and a relocation consultancy – the online shop also stocks survival kits and hurricane-proof raincoats. But the major management consultancies, too, have long been offering services to help their clients identify the most climate-resilient locations and investment opportunities.
We are moving beyond the phase of sheer fear of climate change and developing a more proactive approach to the issue
Pharag Khanna, political scientist
Parag Khanna lives in Singapore and specialises in research into global trends, geopolitics and mobility. With AlphaGeo, he has founded a platform that provides forecasts of property values in the context of climate change. AlphaGeo assesses not only the climate risks themselves, but also a location's ability to cope with these risks – for example, through infrastructure, protective measures or technical adaptations.
Khanna sees a shift in attitudes towards climate change. «I believe we are moving beyond the phase of sheer fear of climate change and towards a more proactive approach to the issue,» he says. Young people are becoming increasingly solution-oriented and view tackling climate change as a task for society as a whole and across generations; they are making a career out of promoting sustainable environmental management, low-carbon energy or climate adaptation technologies.
Access to as many places as possible
Khanna says that our view of «home» is set to change dramatically. In his book *Move: The Age of Migration*, he has described migration as an inevitable and necessary strategy for humanity to adapt to climate change and demographic shifts.
«The era of nations is over; we are returning to our nomadic roots,» he said at the book launch. Mobility, he said, is the most valuable skill. «There has never been a better time in history to be young, skilled and mobile. Almost every country wants you,» says Khanna. That is why he argues that rather than settling on one place, you should ensure you have access to as many sought-after locations as possible.
What can parents do to raise children who embody the kind of mobility he describes? He encourages his children to be «worldly» – in other words, to develop cultural awareness and discernment. Then, of course, there is travel, which helps build the confidence needed for mobility in the real world. Khanna is, of course, also aware that this isn't possible for everyone in the world. If Khanna had to move from Singapore, he would come to Zurich. «It's an alpine oasis with sufficient stability, money and fresh water,» he says.
The importance of emotions – and the balancing act for parents
Hardly anyone knows as well as Kate Marvel what climate change will do to the Earth . A qualified astrophysicist, she now works as a climate scientist for NASA and at Columbia University, conducting research using large-scale climate models. In her book *Human Nature*, she writes about the link between climate change and emotions – and how she deals with this as both a scientist and a mother.
In her day-to-day work, she realises that her children will have to live with the effects of climate change throughout their lives. «But they will also have to be part of the generation that halts global warming,» says Marvel. After all, today's children will have to deal with climate change in virtually every profession – whether they end up working on building sites, in the fire service or in the cockpit of an aeroplane.
«For me, part of bringing up a child is helping them to understand their responsibility towards everyone and everything with whom they share the planet.» According to Marvel, it is possible to talk about problems and possible solutions even with primary school children. After all, where there are solutions, the risk of fear-inducing fatalism setting in is reduced.
Marvel has written an entire book about emotions and their significance for research. And yet, when it comes to climate change, she deliberately chooses not to focus on one key emotion: «We don't need hope when it comes to the future of the Earth; we have something far better: knowledge.”
For parents, it is a balancing act: they need to instil a sense of security in their children whilst at the same time empowering them to become increasingly adaptable in a changing world. Security stems less from geography than from a sense of community, adaptability and adults who exemplify confidence – both at home and at school.
Parents can help instil a sense of agency, community and purpose. And children need to see that adults know how to cope with change. Fleeing to a seemingly safe country will be just as unhelpful as a bunker beneath the home.
