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It’s been a busy and interesting Monday, here at my new job, as the new Executive Director of the Swiss Academy for Development. SA4D is an NGO based in Switzerland but operating globally – working through ‘sport & play’ as a central theme/method to support children and young adults in their (and their community’s) development,...

It’s been almost a week … and I now dare put some words to it. This past weekend, Swiss voters rejected the CO2 Act, the law that had been negotiated as a path towards achieving the goals Switzerland committed itself to in the Paris Accords. The result is embarrassing and dumb, on several levels. The...

You may be wondering what Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, playing the star-crossed lovers in the movie Casablanca, have to do with climate change? I’m glad you asked. 🙂 It matters. But first, let me refer once more to the upcoming vote in Switzerland: the referendum on the CO2 Act. The opposition against this important...

– a commentary on the upcoming vote in Switzerland, specifically the referendum against the CO2 Act. In short: The CO2 Act on this weekend’s ballot must be adopted. The decision to vote ‘yes’ should be obvious. The law is overdue. Ideally, the provisions of the law would be more radical, but it is definitely a...

In the spirit of completeness, I am reposting this commentary from February 2021. With a few big votes coming up in June, additional commentary will be added shortly. The original German write-up follows below. ARE YOU AN OPTIMIST? On March 7th, voters in Switzerland will get to decide whether the free trade agreement the government...

Since Switzerland has a few big votes coming up, I’m reposting my commentary on the 2018 Sovereign Money Initiative. Thankfully, the Swiss voters rejected this remarkably and intriguingly wild proposal. The original German version follows below. A BIG OPPORTUNITY AND DANGER: THE SOVEREIGN MONEY INITIATIVE I’m looking forward to the vote on June 10th –...

As the first blog post on the revamped webpage, it feels fitting to briefly revisit older posts of mine, published on other blogs. A source for further discussion. The two areas on which these posts focus are (a) climate change policy, and (b) private health sector engagement. Three posts for each.  On climate change policy, the...