Climate-neutral region Oberland-Ost

HUB BERN | Project AUE-1

Our goal:

The Oberland-Ost region aims to become climate-neutral by 2040. With its global standing as a well-known tourist destination encompassing part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it seeks to set a good example and contribute significantly to the transformation toward sustainable tourism. The goal is to show that it is possible to use and protect nature simultaneously. 

The Oberland-Ost region is ideally equipped to become the first officially climate-neutral tourism region in Switzerland. Photo: Interlaken Tourism 

In a nutshell:

Regions in the Alps are disproportionately impacted by climate change. At the same time, they also contribute to the problem and therefore bear a particular responsibility. The Oberland-Ost region is ideally placed to lead by example. Until now, there has been no single initiative that served to define overarching objectives and connect the region’s various stakeholders and initiatives. 

This project aims to show how a transformation process toward climate neutrality can be designed. In addition, it seeks to advance concrete initiatives and link together stakeholders from society, business, science, and politics. 

The project began with a scientific sub-project, in which various regional stakeholders developed a shared vision for a climate-neutral region, defined development paths for various sub-areas, and initiated the first specific project ideas. The entire process and results were documented in a brochure and a comprehensive final report (both in German), making the knowledge gained accessible to other regions.

One key first result has been the creation of a coaching position for climate protection projects by the Regional Conference Oberland-Ost. The climate coach acts as a central point of contact for climate concerns while supporting and initiating dialogue platforms and implementation projects in the domains of energy, mobility, tourism, agriculture, nutrition, and communication.  

Various participation formats are being employed to network citizens, experts, and decision-makers while exchanging knowledge.  

More information:   

Klimaneutrale Region Oberland-Ost (Exchange platform deinklima.ch; in German) 

Local energy transition experiments for a low-carbon society (Project information on the website of the Centre for Development and Environment CDE)  

Klimaneutrale Region und Klimaprojektcoaching (Information about the project and the climate coach on the website of the Regional Conference Oberland-Ost; in German) 

Climate protection in the Oberland (Feature in the “uniaktuell” magazine of the University of Bern) 

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In collaboration with:

Office for Environment and Energy of the Canton of Bern (AUE) 

Status: Ongoing project