Swiss Schools Sustainability Summit 2024: connecting with COP29 and beyond

From the finer points of intergenerational leadership to reducing school food waste, the Swiss Schools Sustainability Summit 2024 – hosted for the third consecutive year by Aiglon College – was brimming with insight, inspiration and ideas for positive change.

“We live in a world that is facing mounting challenges – more than ever, we need creative leadership, innovation and free thinkers,” speaker Nick Bubb, CEO of international conservation organisation Tusk, told more than 100 student delegates. “We also need resilience and steely determination, attributes that a life lived outside and in nature, will help us develop.”

Student voice plays a key role in the Summit, which aims to get students in Switzerland sharing knowledge and ideas, enabling them to work to reduce the effects of climate change. This year’s theme – proposed by Aiglon student sustainability ambassadors – was

‘Our Commitment to the Future: People, Planet, and Prosperity.’ ‘People’ emphasises the wellbeing and equity of all individuals and communities, while ‘Planet’ addresses the urgent need to preserve biodiversity, reduce pollution, mitigate climate change, and responsibly manage natural resources. And ‘Prosperity’ seeks to promote shared progress, that doesn’t come at the expense of people or the planet.

With the theme in mind, students heard from – and questioned – experts from across the sustainability world. Marie-Claire Graf, Co-Founder of the Global Climate Youth Negotiators Academy provided a valuable insight, connecting directly from COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, into how Conference of the Parties (COP) summits work. “While countries are encouraged to have high ambitions, of course, we are aiming for the lowest denominator,” she said. “These COP Summits are an important effort, particularly for countries which are hardest hit by the climate crisis, and the least responsible, so it’s a mechanism to show solidarity and support especially as the climate crisis is impacting more areas around the world”. 

Indeed, Gill Einhorn, Head, Innovation and Transformation at the World Economic Forum’sCentre for Nature and Climate, emphasised the importance of collaboration. She cited the CEO Climate Leaders Alliance – a group of companies collectively responsible for $4 trillion of revenue – which has cut emissions by ten per cent between 2019 and 2022. “That is a massive shift, more than any country has managed.”

And she asked students to imagine how they might help create a more sustainable future. “I really encourage you to think now – at a high school level – of what trajectory you want to create, and how you are going to help to open up that pathway of possibility, so that you can help to be the change you are hoping to see in the world.”

Aiglon welcomed student representatives from seven other Swiss international boarding schools: Copperfield International School, International School of Lausanne, Leysin American School in Switzerland, La Garenne International School, Institut Le Rosey, St. George;s International School and Verbier International School.

Antony Dixon, Chairman of The Alliance for Sustainable Schools (TASS), a non-profit network of schools working together for a sustainable future, presented his organisations efforts to work with members and partners to address systems-level sustainability challenges in school uniforms, school food, school buses and school buildings. Aiglon is officially a founding member of The Alliance for Sustainable Schools, and the first school in Switzerland.

The Summit is just one part of Aiglon’s dedication to making a positive impact on the environment and society, putting sustainability at the centre of all its decision-making processes – and students at the heart of the process. The school’s student sustainability team, for example, recently reviewed Aiglon’s sustainability strategy, as Director of Sustainability, James Pigott explains. “Our job is to prepare our students to play their part with confidence, creativity and resilience – putting them in charge, with the tools and support they need to making change is key to them developing the skills they will need to foster innovative solutions.”

Closing the Summit, Aiglon Sustainability Ambassadors thanked everyone who had made it possible – students, speakers and teachers alike. “It’s inspiring to see so many of you engaging with the urgent issue of sustainability with open minds and commitment to make a change.” 

International boarding schools in Switzerland are welcome to join the Summit on 18 November 2025. Registration will open in June.