For 4 out of 5 adults in Switzerland, the climate debate has little or no influence on their consumption and financial decisions. Yet this figure has actually risen significantly over the past 7 years, even though many claim they are reducing their air travel, for example. The facts tell a different story.
In Europe, forests are ablaze and one heat wave follows another. Yet the climate debate has little impact on people’s own consumption habits: 34% of Swiss people say it doesn’t influence their decisions at all, while another 46% say it has only a minor influence. Only for 20% does the climate debate affect their shopping and investment decisions, as a representative Comparis survey shows. That is significantly less than before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
High-income earners find it even harder to make sacrifices or change their behavior
75% of people with a low gross household income of up to 4,000 francs state that the climate debate has no influence—or at most a minor one—on their consumption and financial decisions. Among high earners with a gross household income of over 8,000 francs, the figure is even higher: 84% of these respondents are hardly or not at all influenced by the climate debate when making their consumption or financial decisions. “It seems that high earners find it even harder to make sacrifices or change their behavior than people with less money in their wallets. This is likely also because high earners can simply afford to travel more and consume more,” says Comparis consumer finance expert Michael Kuhn.
People with children act more sustainably
Respondents with children in their households attach greater importance to the issue and also act more consciously in their daily lives: 74% of them state that the climate debate has a slight to very significant influence on their decisions, compared to just 62% of households without children. “People who think beyond their own lifetimes and also keep future generations in mind act more prudently. This is also evident in household size: the climate debate shapes behavior significantly more in households with three or more people than in one- or two-person households,” says Kuhn.
Climate fatigue has been spreading for years
It is interesting to note the trend in the survey results since the first study in 2019: Comparis has asked the question about the influence of the climate debate on consumption and financial decisions 14 times. Between December 2020 and August 2023, 66% to 70% of respondents consistently reported “little” or “no influence” at all. Since then, this figure has risen steadily, reaching 80% in the latest survey. The percentage of people who see no influence at all has risen from 18% to 20% to the current 34%. “This climate fatigue is the result of a disastrous mix of more tangible, more urgent problems—such as rising health insurance premiums, higher rents, wars, and inflation—combined with exhaustion from an omnipresent debate, as well as a sense of powerlessness and, in some cases, even fatalism,” Kuhn explains.
Wanting Is Not the Same as Acting
How has the climate debate specifically influenced consumption patterns compared to a year ago? 40% of all respondents who acknowledge that the debate has had at least a slight influence on their consumption behavior stated in response to this question that they are consuming less meat and animal products. 36% said they have cut back on air travel. These figures have remained fairly stable for years—but do they reflect reality?
Meat and egg consumption is rising
A look at the statistics shows that meat consumption rose from 2023 (48 kilograms, the lowest figure since 2000) to 2024 (50 kilograms) and then again in 2025 (51 kilograms per capita). Overall, meat consumption has remained stable at around 50 kilograms per capita since 2019, the first year of the Comparis survey, according to the Federal Office for Agriculture’s agricultural report. Annual per-capita egg consumption even surpassed the 200 mark for the first time in 2025, reaching 209, as figures from the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security show. Per capita consumption of milk and dairy products has remained fairly stable in recent years.
Number of domestic passengers departing from Zurich Airport is increasing
A similar trend is evident in air travel: The number of domestic passengers departing from Zurich Airport is on the rise. While there were 22.2 million domestic passengers in 2019, that number rose to 23.2 million last year—a new record. Even though not everyone who departs from or lands in Zurich lives in Switzerland, there are various other indicators suggesting that demand for air travel has not declined; for example, the increase in spending on international travel compared to 2019, according to the Federal Statistical Office, or the microcensus analysis by HSLU for the city of Zurich. This analysis shows that in 2024, Zurich residents flew an average of 10,500 kilometers—about 600 kilometers farther than in 2023. “People would like to see something done, but when it comes down to it, they don’t really want to give up air travel, clothes, or a schnitzel themselves,” says Kuhn. “While there is a small portion of the Swiss population that lives more consciously due to climate change—for example, by consuming less meat and animal products—there are likely still far fewer of them than the small percentage of people who claim to act accordingly.”
