Version 3.2
Why sufficiency? Necessity, potentials and legitimacy
The evidence supporting the notion that sustainability goals cannot be achieved solely through technological innovations, but rather by incorporating sufficiency strategies, continues to grow each year (Haberl et al., 2020). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has now recognized sufficiency as a crucial strategy for achieving climate goals (IPCC, 2022), and an increasing number of energy scenarios are integrating sufficiency approaches, acknowledging their significant potential (Cordroch et al., 2021; négaWatt Association, 2023).
We define sufficiency as a strategy for reducing the consumption and production of end-use products and services through changes in social practices in order to comply with environmental sustainability while ensuring an adequate social foundation for all people.
In this Session, interdisciplinary researchers from Sociology, Political Science and System Modelling will present their research. Three connected presentations and comments by Key Listeners will concern with
a) Meta-Analysis of Climate-neutrality Scenarios with focus on Sufficiency (Luisa Cordroch)
b) Quantitative effects of Sufficiency Policies (Ben Best)
c) How European Citizen Assemblies demand Sufficiency Policies (Jonas Lage)
The research presented in this Session represents intermediate outcomes of the project "Energy Sufficiency in Energy Transition and Society" (EnSu, https://energysufficiency.de/),
The discussion can cover the political legitimacy for degrowth and sufficiency and criteria to design policy-mixes for sufficiency.
Cordroch, L., Hilpert, S., & Wiese, F. (2021). Why renewables and energy efficiency are not enough—The relevance of sufficiency in the heating sector for limiting global warming to 1.5 °C. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 121313. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121313
IPCC. (2022). Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change—Summary for Policymakers (Working Group III contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
négaWatt Association. (2023). CLEVER final report: A pathway to bridge the climate neutrality, energy security and sustainability gap through energy sufficiency, efficiency, and renewables. https://clever-energy-scenario.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/CLEVER_final-report.pdf
Info
Day:
2023-09-01
Start time:
10:00
Duration:
01:30
Room:
ZV-KC-2
Type:
Special Session
Theme:
Degrowth as a political project?
