Renovate Switzerland is a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

civil resistance Civil resistance is a form of political action that relies on the use of nonviolent resistance by ordinary people to challenge a particular power, force, policy or regime. Civil resistance operates through appeals to the adversary, pressure and co ...

campaign launched in April 2022 which uses non-violent actions as a means to pressure the

Swiss Federal Council The Federal Council is the federal cabinet of the Swiss Confederation. Its seven members also serve as the collective head of state and government of Switzerland. Since World War II, the Federal Council is by convention a permanent grand co ...

to implement a national plan to insulate one million homes by 2040, in order to address the issues of

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

and the

energy crisis An energy crisis or energy shortage is any significant Bottleneck (production), bottleneck in the supply of energy resources to an economy. In literature, it often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain time and place, in particu ...

. It is part of an international network of civil resistance campaigns, with similar actions taking place in Germany, Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States. These different campaigns share similar tactics, but focus on demands that are specific to their national context. Several of them do however focus on the issue of the

energy consumption Energy consumption is the amount of energy used. Biology In the body, energy consumption is part of energy homeostasis. It derived from food energy. Energy consumption in the body is a product of the basal metabolic rate and the physical acti ...

of buildings. Renovate Switzerland had initially sent a letter exposing their demands to the

President of the Swiss Confederation The president of the Swiss Confederation, also known as the president of the confederation, federal president or colloquially as the president of Switzerland, is as ''primus inter pares'' among the other members of the Federal Council (Switze ...

Simonetta Sommaruga Simonetta Myriam Sommaruga (born 14 May 1960) is a Swiss politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2010 to 2022. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SP/PS), she was President of the Swiss Confederation in 2015 and ...

, however the response they received fell short of their expectations. After four roadblocks in April 2022, the campaign entered a new action phase in October 2022. Co-author of the UN IPCC report

Julia Steinberger Julia K. Steinberger (born 1974) is Professor of Ecological Economics at the University of Lausanne. She studies the relationships between the use of resources and performance of societies. She is an author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Cli ...

participated to a roadblock in Bern on October 11, and glued her hand to the asphalt alongside five other people. Most of Renovate Switzerland's actions involve roadblocks of major Swiss motorways and roads. While their actions are generally considered illegal, they are supported by some politicians such as

Swiss Green Party The Green Party of Switzerland (; ; ; ) is a green political party in Switzerland. It is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council. History The first G ...

Léonore Porchet, who views civil disobedience to be legitimate given the urgency of the climate crisis.

Controversies

The logo of Renovate Switzerland is suspected to infringe on the

Rivella Rivella is a soft drink from Switzerland, created by Robert Barth in 1952, which is produced from milk whey, and therefore includes ingredients such as lactose, lactic acid and minerals. Other than Switzerland, it is sold in several other count ...

drink logo trademark, and the company said they are considering legal action. Due to this situation, Renovate Switzerland has changed its corporate design.

References

{{Reflist Climate change organizations Climate change protests Radical environmentalism Direct action Environmental organisations based in Switzerland Political organisations based in Switzerland