Environmental conditions can affect the quality of life and the health of the population and may also cause damage to infrastructure and buildings or generate other economic costs.
Humanity has always been confronted with natural hazards.
However, due to the extension of settlement areas in regions at risk and rising property values, the potential damage from natural events is also increasing. Flooding, mudflows, landslides or rockfall are influenced, among other factors, by the climatic conditions.
External costs are not borne by those responsible but by third parties (often by the general public). In transport, these types of costs are usually incurred in the environmental and health sectors, e. g. due to air pollution, noise, climate effects or soil pollution. However, they are also found in costs relating to the damage or depreciation of buildings due to traffic. In 2018, the estimated external costs incurred in Switzerland were CHF 9.6 billion due to road traffic, CHF 1.1 billion due to rail traffic and CHF 1.4 billion due to air traffic.
Noise is annoying sound which in addition to its impact on health also has an economic and social dimension (e. g. depreciation of property, social segregation). The main source of noise pollution is road traffic. In 2015, about every seventh person (13% of the Swiss population) was exposed during the day at their place of residence to traffic noise that exceeded the legal limit set by the Noise Abatement Ordinance.
In 2019, 31% of the population said they were very or rather disturbed by traffic noise at home, 34% by air pollution surrounding the house and 23% by radiation from high-voltage power lines or mobile phone antennas. 90% of the population were very or rather satisfied with the landscape surrounding their place of residence.
While in 2015 36% considered the loss of biodiversity to be very dangerous, in 2019 54% were of this opinion. For climate change, this value rose over the same period from 34% to 51%. The use of chemical pesticides was also considered as very dangerous for humans and the environment by the majority (53%) of the population in 2019.