Hub Bern, Switzerland

Switzerland and the Canton of Bern are facing major environmental challenges. Biodiversity is declining, with around one-third of all animal and plant species and half of Switzerland’s habitat types under threat. At the same time, Switzerland is more severely affected by climate change than many other countries. The average temperature has risen by over 2 degrees Celsius since preindustrial times. This means that the warming in Switzerland is more than twice the global average. Meanwhile, Switzerland’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions are among the world’s highest when factoring in emissions caused abroad by imported goods. 

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These challenges are interlinked and must be addressed jointly. We must preserve and enhance biodiversity while reducing the Swiss population’s ecological footprint in terms of food, housing, and transport. At Hub Bern, we work closely with the Canton of Bern to find solutions at the interface of biodiversity, climate, land use, and human well-being that support sustainable development. We are running an implementation program with 15 individual projects. In these projects, we bring together research and practice to develop solutions and test them in so-called incubators.