Switzerland’s Largest Glacier Set to Melt by 2021

1st September 2025

The Aletsch glacier is likely to disappear by 2100 if nothing is done, according to Legambiente, an Italian group that monitors the health of glaciers in Italy and abroad. From…
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The Aletsch glacier is likely to disappear by 2100 if nothing is done, according to Legambiente, an Italian group that monitors the health of glaciers in Italy and abroad.

From 2000 to 2023 the glacier retreated by an average of 40m a year, according to Glamos, the Swiss glacier monitoring network.

At this rate, and without taking into account a higher level of global warming than today, the glacier will disappear in its current form by 2100, “leaving only patches of ice at the highest altitudes”.

“The Aletsch glacier looks like an ocean of ice in great distress, despite the last snowfalls in July”, said ecologists and scientists.

See more here on Swiss Info

The publication is supported by 80 organisations, including the University of Turin, NGOs, Pro Natura and CIPRA Switzerland, as well as the German Environment Agency.

The glacier is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the Aletsch glacier is the second Swiss glacier to be analysed by Legambiente after the Morteratsch glacier in Graubünden, in 2023.

It is now just 20 km long.