Switzerland has built strong resilience to floods, storms and other natural hazards. According to Swiss Re Institute analysis, extreme heat is putting that resilience to the test, as the country warms more than twice as fast as the global average according to Swiss Academy of Sciences, Swiss Re said in its press release.

Heat can act as a risk amplifier affecting health, agriculture, water, energy and infrastructure while increasing the potential for natural hazards such as floods. Within the context of its new Resilient Switzerland initiative, which aims to foster a shared understanding of risk to help strengthen Switzerland's resilience, Swiss Re’s inaugural Schweizer Resilienz-Tag on 26 June 2026 will bring together key public and private stakeholders to discuss practical responses and local adaptation measures to extreme heat.

Climate data show that Switzerland now experiences about 10 to 15 hot days a year, defined as days when the daily maximum temperature reaches 30°C or more, compared with about five in 1990. Cities are particularly exposed: Swiss cities warm faster during the day and cool down more slowly at night, with temperatures reaching up to 6°C higher than in surrounding rural areas. Prolonged heat and tropical nights, when temperatures do not fall below 20°C, make it harder for buildings to cool down and for people to recover.

The key takeaways are:
 

• Switzerland has built strong resilience to floods, storms and other natural hazards through prevention, planning, building standards and high insurance coverage
• Heat can act as a risk multiplier in Switzerland, amplifying flood and other natural hazard risk while affecting health, work, agriculture, water, energy and critical infrastructure
• Swiss Re launches Resilient Switzerland Initiative to strengthen risk knowledge, prevention and risk sharing; inaugural Schweizer Resilienz-Tag to focus on local heat adaptation.

"Switzerland is well prepared for floods and storms. But heat is a different kind of risk: less visible, harder to insure, and able to amplify risks the country already manages well. For heat, resilience means shade on the street, cool rooms in care facilities, safer hours for outdoor work and risk sharing where losses cannot be prevented", commented Gianfranco Lot, Swiss Re’s Country President Switzerland.