Spillover and responsibilities of Switzerland

Sustainable development does not stop at national borders. In a globalised world, our methods of production and consumption, and decisions made in Switzerland have an impact on other countries. This impact, also known as spillover effect, can be both negative (e.g. pollution emitted abroad in the production of goods and services consumed in Switzerland) and positive (e.g. job creation resulting from Swiss foreign investment). How Switzerland assumes its responsibilities to rectify the unfair distribution of environmental, social and economic resources at worldwide level also has an influence on other countries (e.g. through development assistance or by removing customs duties on goods coming from certain categories of country).
This spillover effect and Switzerland’s responsibility towards other countries are addressed by several of the 2030 Agenda’s goals and targets. This is why indicators from the MONET 2030 system concerned with these two aspects are grouped together in a cross-sectional approach in order to provide an overview of them.