Short report: Enough. Symposium on sufficiency policy and modelling

The first day focused on the opportunities and limitations of sufficiency policy for climate and resource protection as well as social justice. The first day was rounded off by a high-profile panel discussion in which representatives from academia and political consulting discussed an impulse for the development of a sufficiency strategy for Germany, which was published by the junior research group. On the second day, the discussion focused in particular on methodological approaches to modelling sufficiency and the results of sufficiency scenarios for Germany and Europe.

Many participants agreed on fundamental points: sufficiency is necessary to achieve climate targets. The vast majority of participants believed that political and economic conditions would have to change in order to implement sufficiency. The discussion made it clear that sufficiency is a multifaceted strategy that goes by many names. While ‘living space optimisation’ does not focus on ecological motives but rather addresses issues of demographic change, the ‘sobriété’ strategy in France is proclaimed with the aim of saving energy and resources. The strategy can be implemented in very different ways, but in France it mainly takes the form of public appeals and campaigns.

However, the discussion showed that information and advice on more sufficient behaviour have their limits as sole approaches, as implementation is often difficult in existing political and infrastructural conditions. Sufficiency is therefore a political field of action and can be implemented through a variety of pricing instruments, economic incentives and regulatory policy – often, the first step is to dismantle and amend existing regulations. There is no shortage of ideas and potential, as the sufficiency policy database and the potential database of the junior research group make clear. Scientists and practitioners presented and discussed the advantages and disadvantages as well as practical experiences. Even though almost all development trends are still pointing in the wrong direction, e.g. with per capita living space and car ownership on the rise, there are already many good examples and a wealth of knowledge surrounding sufficiency.

There were differing opinions on participation formats: professional moderation is important in order to steer highly polarised discussions in a productive direction. However, a rational and ideal speaking situation, as is sought in moderated citizens’ councils, is rare. In these specific mini-publics, regulatory sufficiency measures are frequently called for. At the ballot box and in other participation formats, however, the situation is often different. Nevertheless, these demands from citizens’ councils and studies of successful examples of profound sufficiency policy can point to ways in which majorities can be won over to sufficiency policy and how it can be implemented.

Since scenarios are a powerful tool for policy advice, the second day focused on sufficiency modelling. Sufficiency can expand the solution space in energy models and scenarios. Until now, many large scenario studies have continued social trends and achieved decarbonisation of energy demand through various options on the supply side, primarily renewable energies, renewable imports and CCS/CCU.

Sufficiency scenarios, such as CLEVER, ESYS scenarios for a climate-neutral Germany and the EnSu scenarios, which are partly based on EnSu research or use findings from it, turn this way of thinking on its head. They move from demand to supply and view sufficiency as a subject for political action. Accordingly, sufficiency scenarios often follow the ‘sufficiency first’ approach advocated by the French NGO négaWatt, among others. This means that sufficiency should be included as a priority sustainability strategy in the development of holistic sustainability strategies and scenarios, i.e. first asking how much of what is enough for whom, before this level of consumption and production is provided as sustainably as possible using the more technical sustainability strategies of consistency and efficiency.

We, the members of the EnSu junior research group, are delighted with the lively participation, the interesting discussions and the steadily growing sufficiency network. The work will continue, including the expansion of the policy database, a more in-depth analysis of potentials and strategies in individual consumption sectors, and the further integration of sufficiency into scenario analyses.