Looking for inspiring summer reads? Our ETH Ambassadors have spent the first half of 2026 exploring climate change from multiple perspectives, from global energy policy and planetary boundaries to Alpine hazards, drought research and institutional climate action.

This Summer Reading List brings together six stories that highlight how students, researchers and communities are responding to one of the greatest challenges of our time. Whether you are interested in science, policy, technology or human resilience, these articles offer fresh insights and personal perspectives from across the ETH community.

1. CERAWeek 2026: Shaping the Energy Future during a Global Energy Crisis

“Only strong and consistent policy frameworks will enable achieving climate targets.”

Three ETH students, Vivian Chen, Benedikt Buhk and Florian Marco Možina, travel to Houston to attend one of the world’s most influential energy conferences. Their reflections offer a behind-the-scenes look at global debates on energy security, climate policy and the role of academia in shaping the future of energy.

Read the article.

2. When Johan Speaks, You Listen

Are We Still Operating Within Earth’s Safe Limits?

In this article, Viktoria Österdahl reflects on a remarkable Global Lecture at ETH Zürich featuring leading climate scientist Johan Rockström and ETH Assistant Professor Millie Chapman, exploring one of the defining questions of our time: how do we keep humanity within a safe operating space on our planet?

Read the article.

3. EAGLE Hackathon at SLF: Mass Movement Detection in the Alps

What happens when students from different disciplines come together to tackle real-world challenges in the Alps?

In our latest ETH Ambassadors Blog, ETH Zürich students Bhawana Bhawana, Lilian Obrist and Sujani Mugunthan share their experience of detecting mass movements posing a risk for infrastructure and people living in alpine regions as part of the EAGLE Hackathon project at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL in Davos.

Read the article.

4. Net Zero Day: What Institutional Climate Action Looks Like from the Inside

What does climate action actually look like behind the scenes of a university?

Climate action is often discussed in abstract terms. In this article, Sebastian Kahlert shows what it looks like in practice at ETH Zürich, highlighting the people, projects and decisions that contribute to the university’s Net Zero ambitions.

Read the article.

5. From River Droughts to Data Clusters: Internship at SLF

What does it take to understand why rivers run dry?

In this article, ETH Zürich’s Lydia Seebauer shares how she explored the hidden patterns behind river droughts during her internship at the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF.

By working with decades of hydrometeorological data and learning to apply clustering techniques, she uncovered how different processes shape drought events across time and regions. From uncertainty at the start to meaningful insights, her journey highlights what research really looks like.

Read the article. 

6. Brienz – A Village on the Verge of a New Beginning

What does a mayor do when his entire village must leave its homes?

In Brienz (GR), this question became reality. After more than a year of evacuation due to a moving mountainside, the village of Brienz is now entering a new chapter. In this article, Charles Bara recaps a talk by Daniel Albertin, Mayor of Albula/Alvra: a deeply personal account of leadership, uncertainty and responsibility, guiding a small Alpine community through an unprecedented natural hazard.

Read the article.

Together, these six stories demonstrate that climate change is more than an environmental issue. It is a challenge that touches energy systems, ecosystems, infrastructure, communities and policymaking. They also show that solutions emerge through collaboration between science, society and the next generation of researchers.

We hope these articles inspire you to explore new perspectives, ask critical questions and discover how research can help shape a more sustainable future.

The world is in the grip of a housing crisis of historic proportions. The World Cities Report 2026 (UN-Habitat), launched at the World Urban Forum 13 (WUF13) earlier in May this year, left us genuinely struck by the scale: 3.4 billion people lack adequate housing, the global deficit grew from 251 to 288 million units between 2010 and 2023, and climate hazards could destroy 167 million more homes by 2040. Yet what moved us equally was seeing, across five days of the forum, the breadth of local solutions from every region of the world, approaches grounded in community, place and governance, yet pointing toward the same conclusion: that this crisis demands systemic change, not just technical fixes. It was against this backdrop that we arrived in Baku not only to witness the debate, but to contribute to shaping it.

Fernando Túlio Franco: Brownfields, Bus Corridors and the Climate–Housing Nexus

I arrived with a dual agenda: a WUF Academy keynote on The Climate-Housing Nexus Dialogue, exploring how decarbonisation and socio-territorial inequalities can be addressed together, and a C40/Arup/Urban Partners panel on brownfield regeneration, Europe’s most underused lever for tackling the housing and climate crises. My presentation drew on the Sarajevo Code design studio and a São Paulo case study, weaving together legal frameworks, social housing policies, participatory governance, and Land Value Capture mechanisms.

Mashael Yazdanie: Urban Energy, Sufficiency and Resilience

I brought an integrated urban energy, sufficiency, and resilience perspective to four WUF13 sessions, with a focus on housing, governance, and citizen participation: a UNDP-hosted dialogue on resilient housing systems; two sessions on citizen participation and disaster preparedness at the NGO Pavilion; and a session on translating global housing commitments into local action at the Azerbaijan Pavilion, co-convened with Tural Aliyev. My research asks a question rarely posed at large forums: how much is enough to live well within ecological limits? In Baku, I opened conversations about the governance and citizen engagement levers needed to make sufficiency a viable urban strategy.

Tural Aliyev: Governing the Housing Crisis Across Scales

I spoke across three panels on citizen participation, disaster preparedness, and cross-scale housing governance. Being in Baku carried a particular resonance: as a Swiss researcher with Azerbaijani origins at ETH Zurich, I embody the bridge between local knowledge and international academic excellence that WUF13 sought to build.

What Comes Next

A further highlight was the Swiss Ambassador reception, bringing together SECO representatives, senior UN officials, and researchers: a vivid example of science–policy–practice in action.

WUF13 is not an endpoint. The Baku Call to Action calls for housing to be reprioritised as a human right, for stronger state stewardship over land and finance, and for the next decade of World Urban Forums to be a decade of action. Bridging academy and city, connecting evidence to policy, designing at the intersection of climate, housing, and society; this is what we bring back from Baku. The work continues.

We are Vivian, Bene and Florian, all students at ETH Zurich. Vivian is currently finishing her master’s thesis on data centers and their impact on Switzerland’s energy system. Bene is a PhD student in the Molecular Engineering Thermodynamics (MET) Group, where he focuses on modelling interfaces for sustainable technologies. Florian is a PhD student at the Chair of Ecological Systems Design, working on defossilisation in the chemical industry.

CERAWeek is often described as the “Super Bowl” of the energy industry” – and this year, we got tickets. From the moment we arrived, it became clear why CERAWeek has such a reputation. The event was enormous: the exhibition and conference area felt as large as 15 football pitches, making the “Super Bowl” comparison surprisingly accurate. Everywhere we looked, there were workshops, panel discussions, informative sessions and opportunities to exchange ideas. Conversations happened constantly – between sessions, in hallways, at receptions, and often when we least expected them. Our LinkedIn networks grew quickly, but more importantly, we made meaningful connections with industry experts, policymakers, and researchers.

Even before the official program began, the mood was set. At the pre-conference reception on Sunday evening, it became clear which topic would dominate the week: the Strait of Hormuz and the ongoing global oil crisis. It was striking to witness such a historic moment from inside one of the world’s most important energy gatherings.

At the same time, the geopolitical situation also revealed how narrowly the energy trilemma can be framed in times of crisis. Questions of security and supply clearly took center stage, while climate change and the long-term transformation challenges facing the energy industry often faded into the background. It was striking to observe how strongly a fossil-based narrative was reinforced throughout the week in Houston, with limited attention given to the transition toward renewable energy, despite well-documented risks that continued fossil fuel extraction poses to the climate. That made academia’s presence all the more important and we are glad to have contributed to the debate by participating in discussions and by presenting our research. One of our key takeaways from the conference was how naïve it is to expect the fossil fuel industry to drive emission reductions on its own. Instead, we were reminded that only strong and consistent policy frameworks will enable achieving climate targets.

We are also very grateful to the NextGen organization team at S&P Global, who made us feel welcome and supported throughout the week. Their openness and hospitality made the experience especially memorable. A big thank you as well to ETH Studios for making this trip possible.

Of course, our time in Houston was not limited to the conference itself. We also had the chance to explore the city and enjoy a bit of local culture: from a baseball game and the Houston Space Center to salsa dancing and Texas BBQ. CERAWeek 2026 was an intense, eye-opening and unforgettable experience. We left with new ideas, new contacts and friends, and a stronger sense of why academic voices matter in shaping the future of energy.

It’s not every day you get to meet in person a fellow Swede who happens to also be a rockstar in the world of climate science, and a generally lovely human being. Having witnessed him in action previously in grand speaking arenas including TED and the World Economic Forum, it was a bit surreal to find myself on stage next to him, co‑moderating our Global Lecture on “Taking the Pulse of the Planet.” I am talking about none other than the legend that is Johan Rockström, the man behind the Planetary Boundaries Framework and co-creator of the recently launched Planetary Health Check. My colleague Chris Luebkeman and I were joined by ETH Assistant Professor Millie Chapman to hear from and talk to the man himself on the occasion of the inaugural Climate Week Zurich.

Here are the most important things he had to say in an hour that flew by and was by no means enough to go through everything that needed to be said on one of the key topics of our time.

We are living in the Anthropocene, a new geological age in which human activity fundamentally shapes the Earth system. Humanity and nature are now fully intertwined, co-evolving across planetary scales. This means that the stability of our societies is inseparable from the stability of the Earth’s life-support systems.

That stability is increasingly under pressure. Already today, with an increase by around 1.4°C since the pre-industrial era, extreme events are already disrupting lives and livelihoods worldwide. Beyond this, risks accelerate non-linearly: tipping points are hard-wired into the Earth system, and crossing them could trigger cascading feedback loops. This raises the possibility of a “hothouse Earth” trajectory well beyond the 2-3°C pathway currently projected, and ultimately beyond conditions in which modern societies can function.

These dynamics point to a deeper issue: the erosion of Earth’s resilience. Systems such as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) illustrate how destabilisation could produce profound and uneven regional impacts, while also feeding back into the global climate system. Importantly, these processes are interconnected: disruptions in one part of the Earth system amplify pressures elsewhere.

The Planetary Health Check provides the clearest scientific diagnosis to date. It tracks the state of nine critical Earth system processes, the “vital organs” that regulate stability and resilience, and shows that seven of nine planetary boundaries have now been breached, with pressures continuing to intensify. These boundaries function as guardrails for a safe operating space: once crossed, the Earth system moves into a zone of increasing risk, where tipping points, irreversible change, and loss of resilience become more likely.

What emerges is a stark but actionable insight: the planet’s “vital signs are flashing red”, yet the framework also shows where intervention is possible. Because these systems are tightly interconnected, stabilising the Earth system requires coordinated action across climate, biodiversity, land, water and pollution; not in isolation, but as part of a whole-Earth approach to staying within a safe operating space for humanity.

Millie Chapman brought in the decision-making dimension linked to the issues highlighted by Johan to the fore, by sharing her work at the Environmental Policy Lab of ETH Zurich. She examines how policies, institutions, and digital technologies shape outcomes for people and ecosystems. The work is structured in 3 focus areas:

Cooperation across scales: understanding what drives coordinated environmental action across actors, sectors, and governance levels. 

Decision-making under uncertainty: designing robust, data-informed strategies and policies that remain effective despite complex ecological and social uncertainty. 

Justice in an algorithmic era: examining how data and digital tools shape environmental decisions, with a focus on fairness, accountability, and bias.

Her point was that how decisions are made matters; the information decision-makers have to hand, on which to base their decisions, is the key to them developing effective and equitable strategies to meet global biodiversity targets. Data and algorithms can potentially reshape our management of environmental systems, and AI can help us move towards more sustainable and just futures in the context of environmental justice.

The well-attended event could have gone way past the scheduled hour, as was highlighted by the large number of poignant questions from the audience we did not manage to get to at the end. We closed the evening with a touch of optimism to add to the sense of urgency. Climate Week Zurich is a nice example of the local community getting together with global representatives from business, research and policy to accelerate climate impact in everyday life. Our event was a fitting addition to the inaugural schedule of activities taking place around the city, illustrating ETH Zurich’s commitment to sustainability.

Check out the pictures from the event here: Meet ETH Flickr

I hope this glimpse encourages you to come to a future event. I find that with our Global Lecture Series, we begin a new journey every time, giving ourselves pause to reflect on key topics on the global agenda and learning from individuals with remarkable clarity and foresight. I invite you all to come and join us! The next event will be on 10 September on the topic of research, with Nature’s Magdalena Skipper and ETH Zurich’s Annette Oxenius.

April 8, 2026 – Inspired by an Instagram story posted by ETH, we – three students from different fields, at different points in their studies – decided to participate in the EAGLE Hackathon at SLF. Each of us wanted to gain insight into a thus far foreign field of research.

Mass movement pose a risk for infrastructure and people living in alpine regions. With climate change, these turn even more unpredictable. Therefore, it is important to have working monitoring systems to prevent infrastructure damages and evacuate areas where mass movements might occur. The EAGLE project at SLF focuses on detecting mass movements using radar data from satellites.

The three of us – Bhawana, Lilian, and Sujani – worked on current challenges that the EAGLE project at SLF faced regarding their Machine Learning (ML) based analysis of mass movements. Trying a new arrangement, we worked five of the six weeks remotely, with occasional checkpoints, after which we spent a week in Davos for the finalisation of our project.

Coming from different educational backgrounds, we combined our strengths to work on the main issues. First, the new ML model, insarpy, needed to be integrated into QGIS. After that, the model was to be adapted to accept user inputs to modify the predictions. Having completed these tasks, we decided to additionally improve the user experience when working with the QGIS plugin. Lastly, we attempted the final task of containerisation using Docker.

As the project culminated with the stay in Davos, we wanted to experience as much as we could in the given time. Since our time there fell just before Easter, we got to experience the typical Easter-time snowfall. Making use of this, some of us went on a walk in the snow, enjoying the beautiful scenery. Others tried out cross-country skiing. On the not-so-nice days, we made use of our cozy apartment, for instance by watching movies or baking.

“Coming into this project, I had no prior experience in this domain. But getting to apply data science to real data, with all its messiness and errors, taught me so much more than any classroom could. The learning environment was incredible, and for me it was a chance to step into a new field and see how data science actually works in practice” – Bhawana Bhawana

“Coming from a non-coding background, this internship was a great opportunity for me to get a glimpse into the everyday life of programming – experiencing the struggles and rewards that researchers and data scientists have on a daily basis.” – Lilian Obrist

“This project was a nice introduction into working on real life issues in an interdisciplinary team.” – Sujani Mugunthan

All in all, the project gave us the opportunity to apply our skills on a new and interesting topic, and to learn new things that fall beyond our fields of study. We learned, that sometimes, not everything works at first try and about the power of brainstorming. In addition, we were able to experience Davos in its fullest “winter” beauty.

When people hear “net zero”, they often think of targets far in the future or abstract policy debates. Managing the ETH Net Zero Programme, I experience it quite differently: as a daily, collective effort that touches infrastructure, laboratory work, travel decisions – and, above all, people.

That is why the ETH Net Zero Day has become such an important moment for us. Once a year, it creates space to pause, take stock and make visible what is otherwise spread across projects, departments, and campuses.

ETH Zurich launched the ETH Net Zero Programme in 2024 not as a short‑term reaction to regulation, but as an expression of its responsibility as a public university. The goal is clear: to reduce greenhouse gas emissions consistently and credibly, with an ambition to strive for net zero emissions across all relevant areas by 2040. This is not a single project, but a long‑term transformation process embedded in governance, infrastructure and everyday decision‑making.

What makes the Net Zero Day special is its diversity. The programme features more than 20 events: from campus tours showcasing state-of-the-art heat pump technology and modernized buildings to workshops on design thinking and sustainability handprints. There are talks, exhibitions, and informal exchange formats, spread across different locations and organised by a wide range of units and individuals.

For me, this diversity reflects the core idea behind the ETH Net Zero Programme: climate protection is not owned by one unit or working group. It emerges where technical solutions, organisational change and individual decisions intersect. The Net Zero Day creates space for exactly these encounters – between students, researchers, technical and administrative staff who all contribute in different ways.

The day is also an invitation to engage, ask questions and connect. Whether you are deeply involved in sustainability topics or simply curious to learn more, there is something to discover – and many opportunities to join the conversation.

If you are interested in seeing what institutional climate action looks like from the inside, I warmly encourage you to take part.

You can explore the programme and register for the events at www.ethz.ch/net-zero-day

I’m looking forward to the exchanges – and hope to see you there!

This summer, I took on something completely new: clustering algorithms. I had never worked with them before, but during a six-week internship at the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF), I had the chance to dive in and learn. I was part of the Hydrology and Climate Impacts in Mountain Regions (HYCLIMM) group, which focuses on understanding how hydrological extremes and climate interact in mountainous regions.

The topic of my internship built on something I knew a bit about – droughts in rivers – which I had explored during my bachelor’s thesis. But this time, the goal was to go a step further: develop a method to group drought events from the past 40 years based on how they were formed – their hydrometeorological generation processes. These can be a precipitation, storage or snowmelt deficit, high temperatures and increased evapotranspiration, or a combination thereof. After creating the clusters, I would then explore them in more detail: when and where do they happen? How long do they last? How severe are they? And how have they changed over time?

The internship took place in Davos, and I was able to stay there the whole time. That gave me the chance to get to know the team and get a better feel for how they work. It also meant being surrounded by mountains, which made for some great weekend hikes and quiet evening bike rides.

When I arrived, my supervisor Giulia Bruno welcomed me warmly and helped me settle in. The team was kind and open, and some routines – like regular lunches together or afternoon coffee and cake – helped me feel included. I appreciated these small things, and they helped me feel at home quickly.

One of the trickiest parts of my project was the explorative nature of it. There wasn’t a clear roadmap to follow. The first few weeks were all about figuring out what kind of data the clustering algorithm needed to do a good job. As I soon realized, a clustering algorithm is only as good as the data you give it. So, I spent a lot of time selecting and preparing data – trying to feed the algorithm with the “right food,” as I liked to think of it.

What helped was being able to talk things through with the team. They took time to discuss my questions and offered new perspectives. Slowly, things started to make more sense. The clusters began to show meaningful patterns from a process-oriented perspective, and I started asking more focused questions:

• What processes lead to certain clusters?
• Are some more common in specific areas or seasons?
• Has the frequency or severity of these clusters changed over time?

Getting to that point felt rewarding, especially after the initial uncertainties. It also made me more comfortable with the idea that exploration – and sometimes getting stuck – is part of the process.

Beyond the technical skills – like learning how to use clustering methods and improving my programming – this internship also taught me something more personal: how to deal with frustration. Some days were tough, especially when things didn’t work as expected. But over time, I learned to be patient and to trust the process. By the end of the internship, I felt a bit sad to leave. The team had been so welcoming, and I had learned much in such a short time. But I was also proud of what I had achieved. The work I did opened up some follow-up questions, and maybe I’ll get the chance to explore those further, possibly in a master’s thesis.

In November 2025, during the final edition of the long-standing public dialogue series Treffpunkt Science City at ETH Zurich, I had the opportunity to listen to a deeply personal and moving talk by Daniel Albertin, the mayor responsible for the small mountain village of Brienz in the canton of Graubünden. His story stayed with many in the audience that afternoon. Today it resonates even more strongly. The residents of Brienz can finally return to their homes after more than a year of evacuation. The danger of a major rockfall has eased for now. It is a moment of joy for the community and for the authorities who carried this responsibility.

When a mountain begins to move

Albertin opened his talk with a simple yet powerful question: What does a mayor do when his entire village must leave its homes?

Brienz is a small village of around 80 residents in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. For generations the mountain above the village moved slowly. A few centimetres per year felt normal to those who lived there. Monitoring began around the year 2000 to observe the slope. The situation changed in 2017 when the speed of the landslide suddenly increased. Movement that once measured six or seven centimetres accelerated to forty centimetres per year. Later it reached more than two metres annually.

Scientists and authorities realised that something unusual was happening. Beneath the mountain lies a massive sliding layer around 150 metres deep. Millions of cubic metres of rock move slowly across this surface. Over time, measurements, drilling projects and geological studies helped experts understand the scale of the phenomenon.

Researchers from ETH Zurich played an important role in analysing this complex situation. Using advanced computer simulations and hazard modelling, scientists helped authorities better understand how the mountain might behave and what risks the village could face.

Still, knowledge does not remove uncertainty. It only helps people prepare.

The difficult decision to evacuate

Albertin described the moment when theory turned into reality. In 2023 authorities ordered the first evacuation of Brienz. Residents had to leave their homes within a strict deadline. The mayor walked through the village with local firefighters to confirm that everyone had gone.

A place filled with familiar faces suddenly felt empty. Closed shutters replaced daily life. For Albertin it was one of the most difficult moments of his public service.

A massive rockfall soon followed. Nearly two million cubic metres of debris rushed down the slope and stopped about fifty metres before the village school building. The evacuation had been the correct decision.

Scientific modelling helped guide these critical decisions. Jordan Aaron, an expert in engineering geology at ETH Zurich, ran thousands of simulations using a computer model he developed to assess how far and how fast a potential rockfall could travel. The results were incorporated into the risk assessment used by authorities in Graubünden and the municipality of Albula/Alvra when deciding whether evacuation was necessary.

A second evacuation began in 2024 as the situation remained uncertain. Residents lived away from their homes for more than a year. Some families found temporary housing elsewhere. Children moved to different schools. The community learned to live with waiting.

Science, monitoring and difficult choices

Throughout the crisis, cooperation between scientists, engineers and local authorities proved essential. Monitoring systems track the movement of the slope day and night. Sensors measure ground displacement and provide early warning if conditions change.

Another important contribution came from the research of Johan Gaume, professor of Alpine Mass Movements at ETH Zurich and the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF. Together with his team, Gaume developed simulation software to estimate how far landslides and rock avalanches could travel. Shortly before the major rockfall in 2023, his team produced a blind prediction of where the sliding mass might come to rest. When the event occurred, the outcome closely matched the model’s forecast. The result provided rare empirical confirmation of the model’s accuracy.

Such research highlights how scientific expertise can support communities facing natural hazards. Data, simulations, and field observations help decision-makers evaluate risks and prepare for events that cannot be controlled but can sometimes be anticipated.

Albertin spoke with great respect about the role of research and scientific advice. Experts from universities and geological institutes worked closely with cantonal authorities and the municipality.

A major technical solution also emerged. Engineers constructed a drainage tunnel designed to reduce water pressure inside the mountain. Early results show that the movement of the landslide has slowed significantly. What once moved more than two metres per year now moves only a few centimetres.

Even so, Albertin emphasised caution. Technical structures can stabilise a slope for decades or perhaps longer. No solution can control nature forever.

Between staying and starting again

One of the most sensitive questions concerns the future of the village. Some residents want to remain in Brienz and rebuild their lives there. Others prefer to start again somewhere else.

Authorities therefore created an additional option. Residents who do not wish to return permanently can move to a new location with financial support before disaster strikes. This preventive relocation model recognises that safety and peace of mind mean different things to different families.

Albertin explained that both choices deserve respect. Those who stay must feel that their home still has a future. Those who leave must receive support and dignity in their decision.

A day of return

Today the story of Brienz enters a new chapter. Geological assessments show that the immediate threat of a major rockfall has decreased. The movement of the slope has slowed to millimetres per year. Authorities have lifted the evacuation order.

For many people the moment is emotional. Some homes reopen after months of silence. Others remain closed for now while families consider their next steps. Life does not return overnight. Communities need time to rebuild routines, restore services and rediscover the rhythm of daily life.

Albertin described it as a day of joy for the people of Brienz and for the authorities who guided the village through years of uncertainty.

Lessons from a mountain village

The story of Brienz offers lessons far beyond one Alpine valley.

• First, it shows the importance of trust between science, authorities and citizens. Research from institutions such as ETH Zurich helped authorities evaluate risks and prepare for potential disaster.
• Second, it highlights the human side of natural hazards. Evacuation is not only a technical measure. It touches identity, home and belonging.
• Finally, it reminds us that resilience grows through cooperation. Engineers, geologists, researchers, local officials and residents worked together to face a challenge that none of them could solve alone.

During his talk, Albertin spoke with honesty about uncertainty, responsibility and hope. Now, as the village opens its doors again, those words feel even more meaningful.

For the people of Brienz, the mountain remains part of daily life. Yet today the village breathes again. And that alone is a reason to celebrate.

Watch the talk below in German:

How can we redesign the global energy system to meet the needs of both our economies and the environment? What are the economic risks and where are the opportunities for our society? And what can each of us do to contribute to solutions?

When Lint Barrage, Professor at the Department of Management, Technology and Economics at ETH Zurich, stepped on stage at Treffpunkt Science City this autumn on 16 November 2025, she didn’t begin with charts, equations or policy terms as it could be expected given the talk was about energy and climate protection. Instead, she began with a photo, intriguing….!

But a satellite image of the Korean peninsula at night, the south bright with economic activity, the north nearly dark, set the tone for her central message: energy is the lifeblood of modern civilisation. It is the invisible infrastructure behind our prosperity, our safety and our wellbeing. And rethinking how we produce, use and value energy will determine whether we can protect both our economy and our climate.

What followed was one of the most thoughtful, nuanced, motivating, inspiring, engaging and human-centred perspectives on climate and energy I have ever heard.

Seeing the World As It Is And As It Could Be

Professor Barrage invited us to zoom out and look at the global energy system with clarity. Today, humanity consumes the equivalent of 8 million atomic bombs in energy every year. Despite impressive growth in renewables, 80% of global energy still comes from fossil fuels.

And yet, as she reminded us, nearly 1 in 10 people worldwide still has no access to electricity, and half the global population lives with unreliable energy. Without energy, there is no modern healthcare, no education, no economic opportunity. “There are no rich countries that use little energy,” Barrage noted, a simple but profound observation.

This poses an unavoidable reality: the future growth in energy demand will come almost entirely from developing economies. Their choices will shape the fate of the global climate.

So where does Switzerland fit in?

With just 0.1% of global emissions, Switzerland alone cannot change the climate trajectory. But it can influence the world profoundly — not through size, but through innovation, policy leadership, and the ability to develop technologies others can adopt.

That, Professor Barrage argued, is where our responsibility lies.

Avoiding The Illusion Of “Domestic Only” Solutions

One of the most striking parts of her talk was her explanation of how well-intentioned climate policies can backfire. For example, if Switzerland simply bans all emissions-intensive production domestically, manufacturing will move abroad, often to countries with higher carbon intensity.

The result?

Lower Swiss emissions on paper, but higher global emissions in reality.

The alternative is far more ambitious and far more promising: Switzerland developing technologies, business models and policy frameworks that can be exported worldwide.

Her example of low-emission Swiss cement said it all: if cleaner Swiss innovations became the global standard, worldwide emissions could drop by up to 3%, thirty times Switzerland’s annual footprint. That is the leverage of innovation.

Incentives, Investments and the Power of Innovation

Reaching net zero will require more than goodwill. It demands:

• Smart incentives to reduce emissions, such as carbon pricing
• Massive investments into the energy transition – more than CHF 100 billion in Switzerland alone
• Focused innovation, from hydrogen to carbon capture to sustainable aviation fuels
• Stable political frameworks that make long-term investment possible

Professor Barrage showed clearly that technologies exist but too often, they are still too expensive or not yet deployed at scale. Clean innovation, she emphasized, doesn’t happen automatically. It requires intention, support and thoughtful policy.

A Climate Strategy With A Human Heart

But perhaps the deepest message of the talk was not about economics. It was about people.

Transitions create winners as well as losers. Workers in fossil industries, communities dependent on resource revenues, and low-income households facing rising energy costs all bear risks in the energy transition.

These realities, Barrage urged, must be acknowledged with empathy and seriousness.

Policy must be economically sound and socially fair.

She quoted her doctoral advisor, Nobel laureate William Nordhaus: “We need to approach these issues with a cool head and a warm heart.”

Evidence and compassion. Logic and empathy. Climate ambition anchored in humanity.

Walking Out Inspired

Leaving the auditorium, I felt a rare combination of clarity and motivation. Professor Barrage didn’t sugar-coat the challenges. She didn’t offer simple answers. Instead, she offered something far more valuable: a way to think about climate and energy that is honest, innovative and deeply human.

Her message is one that stays with you:

• Think globally
• Design smart incentives
• Invest in innovation
• Build policies that people can believe in
• And above all, combine a cool head with a warm heart

Please watch Professor Barrage’s full talk in German here:

On 30 October 2025, ETH Zurich hosted a compelling edition of its Global Lecture Series: Powering Change – The Energy Transition in Practice. Moderated by Chris Luebkeman from ETH Zurich’s Strategic Foresight Hub, the discussion brought together two inspiring women speakers: Bettina Bachmann, a veteran energy executive with over three decades of experience at Shell and an advocate for Women in Tech, and Lint Barrage, ETH economist specialising in climate and energy policy.

The conversation went far beyond technicalities. It explored the realities behind the energy transition, challenging assumptions and highlighting what truly matters: adding energy to meet global demand, driving innovation beyond technology, and ensuring equity across nations. Here’s more in the shape of 5 key takeaways and stand-out quotes from our guest speakers:

Energy Transition: More Than Replacement

“Adding energy is often forgotten in this conversation,” Bachmann reminded the audience. “We cannot just replace fossil fuels; we have to grow at the same time.” Her point was clear: with global energy demand rising, the transition is not a simple swap—it’s an expansion.

Urgency and Continuum

Barrage offered a sobering perspective: “We’ve been too slow for decades. If we had started gradual action earlier, the same level of climate protection could have been achieved at a much lower cost.” Climate action, she stressed, is not binary. Every tonne of emissions avoided today reduces future harm tomorrow.

Innovation Beyond Technology

Both speakers agreed that technology alone won’t solve the problem. “We’re not waiting for a silver bullet,” Bachmann said. “We have the technologies—we need to scale them up and integrate them.” Barrage added that innovation must extend to finance, policy, and behaviour: “People respond to incentives. We need to make clean tech massively more profitable to redirect R&D.”

Global Equity

The panel underscored the ethical dimension: developing nations must leapfrog polluting paths. “We have a duty to ensure they don’t have to go the same hard, slow path that we did,” Bachmann said. Barrage pointed to creative financial instruments as key: “We need smarter ways to leverage private investment and reduce risk.”

No-Regret Actions

Both experts closed with practical advice. Bachmann urged: “Think hard before you replace something—whether it’s clothing or heating systems. Avoid waste.” Barrage’s top three? “Invest massively in innovation, provide better information on energy use, and price carbon where feasible.”

Check out the pictures from the event here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/meeteth/albums/72177720329550116/

And in case you missed, watch the talk here:

If you enjoyed this post and the lecture, you may be interested in the upcoming Energy Week at ETH Zurich: https://esc.ethz.ch/events/energy-week.html