Switzerland's ecological footprint

Switzerland has made sustainable development a national goal. It is enshrined in the Swiss Constitution. How does one determine whether Switzerland has actually achieved or is on the road towards sustainable development? One way is to use sustainable development indicators. Another way is to use the ecological footprint approach, a scientific method to graphically depict the environmental impact of human activity. The present study closely examines the ecological footprint approach. The first step the authors took was to align Swiss statistics with data contained in the international ecological footprint database. Once data was made compatible, it was then possible to calculate Switzerland's ecological footprint. This publication contains a multitude of easy to read charts showing how well Switzerland compares with other countries in terms of environmental impact. The publication also includes background information enabling readers to assess the ecological footprint approach.