Energy Sufficiency 101

By Sarah Thompson, Senior Research Programme Manager for the European Chair for Sustainable Development and Climate Transition, Sciences Po

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In the fight against climate change, it is undeniable that more action on decarbonisation is required in order to reach the targets under the Paris Agreement. The 2023 Emissions Gap Report by UNEP indicated global greenhouse gas emissions reached a record high in 2022, and cautioned that if current policies are maintained, global warming is forecasted to reach 3°C this century.[i] Gains in energy efficiency and shifting to more renewable sources of energy dominate the discourse on decarbonisation. But a promising and currently overlooked strategy involves reducing overall energy consumption by focusing on ‘energy sufficiency’. 

Earlier this year, the European Chair for Sustainable Development and Climate Transition co-hosted an event to mark the launch of the World Sufficiency Lab (WSL) web platform. Under the leadership of Dr. Yamina Saheb and Prof. David Ness, the WSL seeks to build a global community to ensure sufficiency is considered first in policy and business decisions. The WSL aims to function in a bottom-up, collaborative manner and create a network to share best practices around the world in an effort to contribute to growing efforts to decarbonise, as well as improve well-being for all. The launch event featured a number of the WSL’s expert contributors who are helping to shape dialogue on this topic worldwide.

This blog post provides a high-level overview of the concept of energy sufficiency, complemented by key highlights from the launch event.

What is Energy Sufficiency?

Though the concept of sufficiency is far from novel, it was first recognised by the IPCC in 2022 as playing a key role in future climate actions, defining the concept as “a set of measures and daily practices that avoid demand for energy, materials, land and water while delivering human well-being for all within planetary boundaries.”[ii] More than just a decarbonisation solution, the WSL emphasises the crucial role that social justice plays within the framework of sufficiency in seeking equity both within and between countries, as well as intergenerationally.[iii]

During the WSL launch, Prof. David Ness pointed to research that highlights significant inequalities in global consumption patterns and carbon emissions. This trend is regularly highlighted in the Emissions Gap Reports, with last year’s report finding that the richest 10% of the world’s population contributes to nearly half (48%) of global emissions.[iv] In order to achieve the 1.5°C target in the Paris Agreement, the necessary and drastic cuts to emissions need to take into account this stark inequality. Achieving this target would require everyone in the world emitting no more than 2 tonnes of Co2 per year, meaning the richest 1% of the world’s population would need to reduce their individual emissions by 97%.[v] In reality, however, the world’s richest 1% are currently on track to exceed the global 1.5°C-compatible per capita level of emissions by a staggering 30 times.[vi]

In their detailed overview of energy sufficiency in Europe, Fawcett and Darby[vii] highlight how critics of energy sufficiency argue that it may harm economic growth by reducing demand in energy-intensive sectors, lead to rebound effects where energy savings are offset by increased consumption elsewhere, and face challenges in defining “enough” energy use, as needs and wants vary across cultures and contexts. Fawcett and Darby counter these concerns by suggesting that energy sufficiency can drive sustainable economic growth through the promotion of low-energy service sectors, while comprehensive policy design can help mitigate rebound effects. They also propose that socially defined limits on energy use, developed through community engagement, create contextually relevant and accepted standards. Supporting this point, a study of Climate Citizens Assemblies across Europe found that 40% of the recommended mitigation policies were sufficiency-related, indicating public openness to sufficiency measures.[viii] Unlike approaches that target individual behaviours, the sufficiency concept emphasises a collective effort, recognising the link between energy consumption and inequality and aiming to protect those with low incomes.

Energy Sufficiency in Practice

While there are a wide variety of sectors and domains in which the concept of energy sufficiency can be applied, the WSL highlighted four key sectors that their experts focus on: urban areas and human settlements; urban mobility; fashion; and digital technology.

Urban areas and human settlements

Urban areas are both significant drivers of climate change and essential to its mitigation efforts. Despite occupying only 2% of global land area[ix], cities are responsible for approximately 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 75% of the world’s energy consumption.[x] As cities continue to expand, it is crucial to focus on the built environment, which includes buildings and infrastructure, to achieve energy sufficiency. This effort must also address social justice to ensure equitable resource distribution and benefits for all communities.

To combat these issues, urban areas must adopt strategies such as adaptive reuse and retrofitting of existing buildings, which can significantly reduce emissions and resource consumption.[xi] The retrofitting of buildings to lower energy use and redesigning urban spaces to promote walking, biking, and green spaces can create long-term savings, generate jobs, and provide substantial climate benefits​​.[xii] Engaging industry and corporations in these initiatives is vital, as they play a significant role in resource consumption and emissions​.

Furthermore, integrating a social justice perspective into sustainability efforts ensures that the transition to greener cities benefits everyone, particularly the most vulnerable populations. As Dr. David Ness noted, wealthier nations continue to prioritise endless growth in construction, assuming renewable energy, efficiency measures, and biomaterials can sufficiently decarbonise the sector. However, a shift is needed to limit unnecessary expansion in the Global North (i.e. through repurposing existing infrastructure) while balancing the construction needs of the Global South where sustainable practices and integrating indigenous knowledge can be used to avoid replicating historically carbon-intensive models from the Global North. Researchers at Aalborg University, for example, propose budget-based carbon reduction targets, allocating carbon budgets to countries, cities, sectors, and even buildings. With this framework, wealthier societies are expected to operate within smaller budgets, prioritising essential sectors like social housing over commercial projects.

By focusing on these areas, cities can significantly reduce their environmental impact while promoting economic growth and social equity, aligning with global goals for sustainable urban development.

Urban mobility

The latest IPCC report highlighted that the transportation sector contributes to a substantial share of global greenhouse gas emissions (23% in 2019), coming predominantly from road vehicles (70%) and driven by rapid growth in urban areas and increasing global demand.[xiii] The WSL’s Mobility Programme Lead, Valentin Stuhlfauth, noted that with continued urban expansion and rising transportation demands, a business-as-usual approach risks escalating emissions and making decarbonisation increasingly difficult. While technological solutions, such as vehicle efficiency improvements and alternative fuels, offer potential emissions reductions, they often have limitations and cannot, alone, achieve the comprehensive reductions needed for long-term sustainability.

The IPCC’s recent report advocates a shift from merely improving efficiency to implementing demand-side policies that directly reduce transportation demand. Unlike traditional approaches, which primarily focus on enhancing efficiency, demand reduction strategies address root causes of emissions, integrating environmental and social equity considerations. As transportation underpins basic human needs, balancing accessibility with emission reduction is crucial to avoid undue burdens on lower-income communities and to ensure that developing regions can continue to progress toward higher living standards without unsustainable emissions.

Valentin Stuhlfauth thus pointed to how sufficiency policies can provide a structured framework to reconcile social and ecological demands, ensuring that emission reduction targets are met without compromising essential human needs. By prioritising fundamental needs, incorporating technological advancements, reshaping urban spaces, and changing social norms, sufficiency principles can align with both ecological limits and social well-being, offering a more holistic approach to sustainability.

Fashion

The fashion industry has become one of the most pressing environmental challenges, producing 10% of all global carbon emissions[xiv], and having the second highest contribution to water pollution after agriculture.[xv] This is largely driven by overconsumption, particularly among the wealthiest consumers in the Global North. As noted by Katia Vladimirova, the WSL’s Clothing Programme Lead, meeting the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement will require significant changes within the fashion industry with significant reductions (up to 75%) in the amount of purchased garments  needing to come from high-income countries.[xvi] Efficiency measures alone, such as recycling and production improvements, cannot achieve the necessary reductions, indicating an urgent need to adopt sufficiency-focused policies that curb demand and prioritise material reduction.[xvii]

Efforts to address this challenge are emerging, such as the EU’s introduction of a strategy for sustainable circular textiles. This initiative, an important development highlighted by Katia Vladimirova, nevertheless falls short by relying too heavily on recycling and technical innovations without adequately addressing the root issues of overproduction and overconsumption. Current policy discussions emphasise innovation, yet research across sectors reveals that these approaches are unlikely to solve the overconsumption issue on their own. A forthcoming paper by the NGO ECOS (Environmental Coalition on Standards) aims to conduct a stock taking exercise of current policies while pushing for more comprehensive sufficiency measures within the fashion industry to address the root issues of overproduction and overconsumption with the aim of reducing overall demand.

The path forward involves bridging the gap between science and actionable policy. With new regulatory interest in both Europe and the U.S., Katia Vladimirova argued now is the time to translate scientific evidence into legislative action. This requires robust, evidence-based research and clear roadmaps to design policies that can halve the carbon footprint of fashion by 2030. Developing these strategies, particularly with a focus on reducing production and shifting to sustainable consumption, will be essential in creating a more sustainable and equitable global fashion industry.

Digital technology

In 2019, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector was responsible for approximately 2.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions – a footprint that surpasses even that of international aviation.[xviii] Unlike other sectors where emissions may be stabilising or declining, the environmental impact of digital technology is growing rapidly, fuelled by the expanding demand for new devices, networks, and data centres. Although digital technologies are often seen as drivers of efficiency across various industries, studies show these benefits can be difficult to measure definitively. The ICT sector’s environmental toll includes not only high carbon emissions but also significant water consumption for data centre cooling and the extraction of rare earth minerals for device production, which severely affects ecosystems.[xix]

Environmental harm from digital technology is exacerbated by low recycling rates: only around 17.4% of electronic waste is properly recycled worldwide, leaving vast amounts of e-waste in landfills where it releases toxic pollutants.[xx] This impact is unevenly distributed, with the majority of benefits concentrated in developed countries while the negative effects—such as mining waste and pollution—affect the Global South. Digital sufficiency has emerged as a strategy to counter these issues, aiming to minimise resource use throughout the technology lifecycle by focusing on the essential needs of users and reducing unnecessary production. This approach promotes extending device lifespans, advocating for repairability, and addressing various forms of obsolescence.[xxi]

Digital sufficiency spans both hardware and software, requiring an interdisciplinary approach that includes transforming design practices, business models, and regulatory frameworks. Initiatives like France’s Repairability Index and Fairphone’s transparent supply chains aim to make devices more durable and easier to repair, supporting a sustainable shift in consumer habits and reducing e-waste. On the software side, groups like the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) are developing sustainability guidelines to reduce resource use in digital services, improve device compatibility with older software, and promote ethical practices in digital development. These efforts are reshaping how society interacts with technology, pushing for transparency, resource efficiency, and a cultural shift toward sustainable digital practices.

Case Studies of Energy Sufficiency Around the World

Energy sufficiency is gaining traction worldwide as a cornerstone of sustainable energy policy. During the launch event, experts from various regions shared insights into how their local contexts are integrating sufficiency measures. These examples highlight the diverse approaches and innovations that are driving global progress.

France

Diane Simiu, Director for Climate, Energy Efficiency and Air Quality at the Ministry of Ecological Transition highlighted that in France, energy sufficiency policies were first introduced in 2015, but their implementation gained momentum only in recent years, driven by the war in Ukraine and the urgent need to address rising energy prices. A key turning point came in the winter of 2022-2023, when France faced the risk of blackouts for the first time in over 40 years. In response, the government launched an unprecedented nationwide effort to reduce electricity and gas consumption by 10% within two years—a target not only met but exceeded within just one year, with consumption dropping by 12% (adjusted for climate variation). This success was attributed not solely to high energy prices, which were moderated by social policies, but also to a strong focus on energy sovereignty and coordinated action across society. Over 300 business federations collaborated with the government on sector-specific measures, such as limiting office temperatures to 19°C, reducing hot water boiler temperatures to 55°C, and carpooling initiatives. These efforts were accompanied by symbolic yet impactful measures like prohibiting open shop doors and overnight advertising to conserve energy.

France’s approach to sufficiency extends beyond managing immediate crises. By 2050, the country aims to halve its energy consumption compared to 2021 levels, with sufficiency alone projected to contribute 10% of emissions reductions by 2030. Lessons learned have inspired broader applications of sufficiency, including water conservation plans, sustainable land use policies, and the promotion of a circular, functionality-driven economy that prioritises renting, refurbishing, and repairing over new production. This shift in mindset underscores the necessity of embedding a “sufficiency reflex” into policymaking and investments, ensuring that every decision aligns with long-term sustainability goals. France’s experience demonstrates that sufficiency is not merely a response to crises but a foundational strategy for achieving carbon neutrality and climate resilience in the decades to come.

Australia

Dr. Jane Lomax-Smith AM, Lord Mayor, provided an overview of Australia’s achievements in renewable energy and how they demonstrate the potential of sufficiency initiatives. Over two decades, the state of South Australia has transitioned from 0% to 75% renewable energy within 20 years, demonstrating strong leadership in clean energy adoption. Local initiatives also reflect a commitment to sustainability, such as recycling 90% of demolition materials, tackling fast fashion, and fostering a circular economy. Importantly, South Australia emphasises climate resilience and social justice, particularly for Aboriginal communities. Data-driven approaches underpin their recycling and circular economy efforts, ensuring informed and effective decision-making.

European Union

Claire Roumet, who is leading EU policy and Strategic Partnerships at Energy Cities, emphasised the urgent need to embed sufficiency into EU policy frameworks to address climate neutrality goals and resource resilience. While sufficiency features in all EU climate scenarios, there is a glaring lack of supporting policies, which the Sufficiency Manifesto seeks to address. Key demands in this manifesto include setting binding resource targets alongside CO2, energy efficiency, and renewable energy goals, and conducting a reality check to ensure EU policies align with these scenarios. The energy price crisis has reframed sufficiency as a matter of security and autonomy, sparking a broader conversation on resource-wise governance. Claire highlights the importance of a unified global narrative on sufficiency, collaboration through international sufficiency hubs, and incorporating a ‘resource pillar’ into climate governance frameworks, such as the IPCC. This approach aims to ensure sustainable resource use, enhance resilience, and meet international climate commitments effectively.

United States

Lisa Richmond, Founder of Climate Strategy Works LLC, discussed how Architecture 2030, a think tank focused on decarbonising the built environment, is integrating sufficiency into its longstanding efforts to reduce operating and embodied carbon. She highlighted the urgency of sufficiency, as global efficiency gains are being offset by rapid growth in floor area, exacerbating climate inequities. Architecture 2030 views sufficiency as critical for achieving climate justice and meeting carbon budget goals. The organisation is establishing a North America sufficiency hub, focusing on creating a toolkit for practitioners, a menu of policy options for governments, data-driven targets for progress, and an advocacy campaign to normalise sufficiency thinking. By collaborating with the WSL, Architecture 2030 aims to accelerate global knowledge-sharing and secure resources to advance these goals.

South Korea

Jungpil Lee, Director of the Energy Climate Policy Institute (ECPI), discussed how in South Korea, the concept of sufficiency is still in its early stages, with a newly formed group of researchers and activists beginning to explore how it can provide an alternative to the current efficiency-driven development model. The Korean government operates on the assumption of perpetually rising energy demand, tied to GDP growth and industrial electrification, without strategies to control this demand. Sufficiency is seen as a transformative paradigm, aiming not only to change individual behaviour but also to create systemic shifts that enable sustainable practices at the community level. Key priorities include building a social platform for sufficiency advocacy, learning from global case studies, and developing systems that integrate sufficiency into daily life and local policies. The WSL offers an opportunity to learn from international best practices across sectors like industry, buildings, housing, and transport, helping to adapt these models for Korea’s unique context and expand the network of organisations advocating for sufficiency.

Conclusions

The concept of energy sufficiency offers a transformative and urgently needed shift in how we approach the climate crisis. Moving beyond traditional strategies that focus primarily on efficiency and renewable energy, sufficiency addresses the root causes of overconsumption and inequality, advocating for reduced energy demand within equitable and sustainable limits. By recognising sufficiency as a cornerstone of decarbonisation, we can tackle both the environmental and social dimensions of the climate challenge, ensuring fair resource distribution and improved well-being for all.

The diverse examples shared at the event—from urban planning and mobility to fashion and digital technology—demonstrate the vast potential of sufficiency to reshape key sectors. These case studies also highlight the critical role of sufficiency in bridging global inequalities, as affluent nations and high-consumption individuals must lead the way in reducing emissions. Sufficiency is not merely an alternative to existing approaches; it is a necessary complement that challenges the unsustainable notion of limitless growth while empowering communities to live within planetary boundaries.

As governments, businesses, and individuals begin to embrace sufficiency, it becomes clear that systemic change is both possible and imperative. By embedding sufficiency principles into policies and practices, we can create a sustainable, equitable future that prioritises collective well-being over unchecked consumption.

As part of its ongoing efforts to advance this critical framework, the WSL has outlined several upcoming initiatives:

• Sufficiency Library: A dynamic resource akin to Wikipedia, offering examples of sufficiency policies, challenges faced, and successful implementations.
• Sufficiency Academy: A training platform to equip stakeholders with the tools and knowledge to implement sufficiency-focused solutions.
• Global Collaboration: The WSL has issued calls for expressions of interest to join its scientific and hub committees, fostering international cooperation and shared expertise.

These tools and activities will provide the foundation for a collaborative, evidence-based approach to sufficiency, empowering stakeholders across sectors to drive systemic change.

Watch the full replay of the launch of the Sufficiency Lab webinar here.

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[i] United Nations Environment Programme, “Emissions Gap Report 2023: Broken Record – Temperatures hit new highs, yet world fails to cut emissions (again)” (Nairobi, 2023), https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/43922/EGR2023.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y.

[ii] IPCC, “Summary for Policymakers. Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change” (IPCC, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, 2022), https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGIII_SPM.pdf.

[iii] “Home | Sufficiency Lab,” last modified July 12, 2024, https://www.thesufficiencylab.org/.

[iv] United Nations Environment Programme, “Emissions Gap Report 2023: Broken Record – Temperatures hit new highs, yet world fails to cut emissions (again).”

[v] Tim Gore, “Carbon Inequality in 2030: Per capita consumption emissions and the 1.5⁰C goal,” https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/621305/bn-carbon-inequality-2030-051121-en.pdf.

[vi] Gore, “Carbon Inequality in 2030: Per capita consumption emissions and the 1.5⁰C goal.”

[vii] S. Darby and T. Fawcett, “Energy sufficiency: An introduction. Concept Paper.” (2018), https://www.energysufficiency.org/media/uploads/site-8/library/papers/sufficiency-introduction-final-oct2018.pdf.

[viii] Jonas Lage et al., “Citizens Call for Sufficiency and Regulation — A Comparison of European Citizen Assemblies and National Energy and Climate Plans,” Energy Research & Social Science 104 (2023), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2023.103254, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629623003146.

[ix] World Bank, “Advancing Climate Action Through an Urban Lens,” last modified October 21, 2024, https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/brief/climate-action-through-an-urban-lens.

[x] UN News, “UN Chief Promotes ‘Enormous’ Benefits of Greener Cities,” last modified July 29, 2024, https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/10/1101992.

[xi] World Economic Forum, “Large Building Retrofits Alone Can Reduce Building Sector Carbon Emissions by up to an Estimated 51%,” last modified October 21, 2024, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/02/deep-retrofit-buildings-carbon-emissions-climate-change/.

[xii] World Bank, “Advancing Climate Action through an Urban Lens.”

[xiii] IPCC, “Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Chapter 10: Transport” (Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, 2022), https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/chapter/chapter-10/.

[xiv] World Economic Forum, “These Facts Show How Unsustainable the Fashion Industry Is,” https://www.weforum.org/stories/2020/01/fashion-industry-carbon-unsustainable-environment-pollution/.

[xv] Francesca Bonelli, Rocco Caferra, and Piergiuseppe Morone, “In Need of a Sustainable and Just Fashion Industry: Identifying Challenges and Opportunities Through a Systematic Literature Review in a Global North/Global South Perspective,” Discover Sustainability 5, no. 1 (2024), https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-024-00400-5, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43621-024-00400-5.

[xvi] L. Coscieme et al., “Unfit, Unfair, Unfashionable: Resizing Fashion for a Fair Consumption Space” (Berlin, 2022), https://hotorcool.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Hot_or_Cool_1_5_fashion_report_.pdf.

[xvii] Coscieme et al., “Unfit, Unfair, Unfashionable: Resizing Fashion for a Fair Consumption Space.”

[xviii] The Shift Project, “Lean ICT: Towards Digital Sobriety: REPORT OF THE WORKING GROUP DIRECTED BY HUGUES FERREBOEUF FOR THE THINK TANK THE SHIFT PROJECT – MARCH 2019,” https://theshiftproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Lean-ICT-Report_The-Shift-Project_2019.pdf.

[xix] Vanessa Forti et al., “The Global E-waste Monitor 2020: Quantities, flows, and the circular economy potential” (2020), https://ewastemonitor.info/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GEM_2020_def_july1_low.pdf.

[xx] Ibid.

[xxi] ADEME, “Quantification de l’impact environnemental d’une action de réparation, réemploi réutilisation – La librairie ADEME” (2018), https://librairie.ademe.fr/consommer-autrement/1340-quantification-de-l-impact-environnemental-d-une-action-de-reparation-reemploi-reutilisation.html.