Sufficiency as Policy

Expansion of Policy Domain of Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP): Challenges and Opportunities for Policy Design

“…Socio-technical systems require urgent policy intervention to encourage the demand side/civil sector to transition to a sustainable regime, by modifying business models, lifestyles, and infrastructure. The current mainstreamed SCP 2.0 tends to be technically oriented and primarily focuses on the individual product, unit and facility, or on the behavior of individuals [43,44], rather than on societal and technical dynamics beyond a single product system. Indeed, the study on social practices and climate change emphasizes the need for change in terms of the interdependence of social practices on consumption rather than individual behavior [45].…”

“…Boulanger also makes a contrast between sufficiency strategy and efficiency strategy for sustainable consumption, stating that sufficiency strategy "striv[es] to get the maximum wellbeing from each unit of material service consumed" as well as "minimize[s] the role of material services in the definition and production of wellbeing" [44]. Spengler emphasizes that environmental sustainability based on sufficiency is motivated by the limits of environmental capacity, by the cumulative consequences of modern consumption patterns, and by the promotion of an additional solution besides a "technical fix" [43].…”

“…By using the headline indicators of ecological footprint and carbon footprint, BioRegional suggests ten principles for one planet living-health and happiness, equity and local economy, culture and community, land use and wildlife, sustainable water, local and sustainable food, sustainable materials, sustainable transport, zero waste, and zero carbon [61]. In a similar way, Spengler [43] positions the sufficiency concept as a central policy concept for emerging areas of SCP such as mobility, housing, appliances, and products, emphasizing that "[s]ufficiency as policy would . .…”

Can ‘Sufficiency’ reconcile social and environmental goals? A Q-methodological analysis of German housing policy

“…So far, sufficiency still occupies a minor position in environmental policy making. However, it starts to receive increased attention, especially in the field of energy policy (see for example Huber 2000a;Princen 2005;Barry and Doran 2006;Scherhorn 2008;Stengel 2011;Heyen et al 2013;Lorek and Fuchs 2013;Fischer and Grießhammer 2013;Schneidewind and Zahrnt 2014;Ekardt 2016;Darby and Fawcett 2018;Spengler 2018;Rijnhout et al 2018;Toulouse et al 2019).…”