Switzerland

A growing number of companies in Switzerland are already making a commitment to society as part of conducting sustainable business. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) primar­ily hinges on each company’s core business, which by dint of globalisation impacts on economic, social and environmental conditions.

The Swiss government has announced it will cut its greenhouse gas emissions to a net-zero level by 2050. CO2 emissions from transport, buildings and industry can be reduced by up to 95% by 2050 through technologies that are already available and by using renewable energy sources. They want to take it one step further by producing more energy via renewable sources to resell it back into the system.

During this section of our Global Learning Experience we bring you to the first plus-energy solar hotel of the Alpine region, an influential biogas farm producing electricity for their village from food waste from hotels and restaurants and manure from local farms, and a plus energy solar dairy farm. On a larger scale you can learn about the hydro electric companies ‘Repower’ and the ‘Bieudron HydroElectric Plant’ and their efforts to provide renewable electricity to a vast part of Switzerland’s population.

Furthermore, we will meet with the CEO and team of BASE Energy a United Nations affiliated NGO that is focused on developing innovative business plans and models for developing countries to make the switch from using out of date energy systems that have a negative impact on the environment, to adopting clean energy solutions that have a lower impact on the environment and actually generate financial gain for the local companies. We’ll discover how they’re using their expertise in business and finance to battle one of the world’s biggest threats, climate change.