Alarming Melt: Switzerland Loses Nearly 20 Percent of Its Glacial Ice in Five Years

Switzerland’s glaciers are rapidly receding due to a combination of winters with too little snow and record-high temperatures across Europe this summer, scientists say. In all, one of the world’s top ski destinations has lost nearly one-fifth of its glacial ice in just five years.

In a report published by the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (GLAMOS) and the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere Observation of the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) on Thursday, researchers said Swiss glaciers lost 5.5 percent of their ice volume over the hydrologic year ending September 30, 2026, and nearly 20 percent since 2021.

In September, a GLAMOS team visited 23 glaciers in Switzerland to record end-of-summer measurements of ice melt and snow accumulation. Visiting one glacier named Scex Rouge in the Western Swiss Alps in early September, GLAMOS chief Matthias Huss told the Reuters news agency about the severe melting observed at an elevation of almost 3,000 metres (9,843ft).

According to the report, the total mean thickness of individual glaciers in Switzerland has fallen by between 2.5 and four metres in 2026. GLAMOS chief Huss told Al Jazeera that the massive ice loss is clearly attributed to warming and anthropogenic climate change following the hottest summer on record in Switzerland.

The report’s scientists warned that the glaciers also lost a total of about 2.2 trillion litres of water between July and September alone, which could impact the country’s future water supply, tourism, and hydropower generation.

Harry Zekollari, a glaciologist and associate research professor at the Department of Water and Climate at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, noted that glaciers serve as important natural water suppliers. However, as glaciers become smaller, the summer water supply decreases.

According to Zekollari, saving as much glacier ice as possible requires the world to stabilise rising temperatures as soon as possible by rapidly stopping emissions.