The president of the Council of State in Geneva, Antonio Hodgers, has claimed that by 2090, the weather across Swiss cities will be more Algarve than Aargau. He predicted that it won't be long before the climate in Geneva resembles that of southern Italy and that cantonal authorities need to introduce new measures to deal with the heat.
Climate in Switzerland to become more like southern Italy
Speaking to Le Temps, Hodgers said that by 2090, Geneva will have the same climate that the Puglia region in southern Italy has today. He warned that Switzerland as a whole will be one of the countries most affected by climate change; temperatures in the alpine nation are set to rise twice as quickly as the global average, according to the latest forecast by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
As a result, he argued that Geneva will have to adapt to a new climate where summers are always exceedingly hot, while winters remain cold. Specifically, the Genevan government is set to plant 150.000 trees across the canton, while local farmers are being encouraged to switch their current crops to more Mediterranean varieties like olives.
Geneva can adapt to higher temperatures, official assures
Alongside expanding green spaces, the government will also look into painting Genevan buildings white, creating "natural air circulation" throughout the city, and changing how rainwater is collected so that it better cools areas down. "Humans are made to adapt... people have been living happily in Puglia for millennia," Hodgers assured.
However, while Hodgers predicted that Geneva would successfully adapt, he asserted that climate change will make the environment "untenable" for around 15 percent of the global population. "That's what worries me the most," he concluded.
Thumb image credit: RistoH / Shutterstock.com