Government funding programs are a straightforward and non-bureaucratic method to immediately implement the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights on climate litigation. A call to the Swiss governmental funding landscape.
We are thrilled by the groundbreaking verdict of the ECHR on the climate lawsuit brought by the «Klimaseniorinnen» and congratulate the plaintiffs on their success. This ruling also brings hope for innovative startups committed to sustainable solutions (such as Twiliner).
Switzerland does a lot for startups and offers various funding programs. These programs are primarily focused on return on investment, with goals like job creation or tax revenue. These programs have little to do with philanthropy.
With Twiliner, we have made the experience that sustainability is not a central criterion for project funding. However, it should be: Switzerland has committed to halving its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. By 2020, a 20% reduction was supposed to have been achieved. Only 18% was reached, and in some areas like transportation, only 7%.
«In transportation, Switzerland only managed to reduce emissions by 7% by 2020, instead of the targeted 20%.»
We naturally thought that with Twiliner, we would be pushing open doors. Despite its obvious ecological benefits, we have mostly received rejections from government funding programs in the past. The reasons given were sometimes surprising: «Twiliner does not fit our core themes» or «Twiliner is not innovative enough» or «there is no demand for it» or even «the CO2 reduction through Twiliner occurs only partly on Swiss territory.»
The ECHR’s actual decision could lead to a rethinking. It shows that Switzerland must take its responsibility for climate protection seriously and use all possible means to reduce CO2 emissions. Funding programs are perfectly suited to accomplish this quickly and without bureaucracy. They just need a somewhat stronger focus on sustainability.