Sufficiency: the social and symbolic challenges. Scoping and presentation of this issue
Abstract
Sufficiency is a paradigm that in recent years has attracted the support of a wide range of stakeholders (NGOs, businesses and international institutions) as a way of enabling transitions in our lifestyles and production methods, and cutting our greenhouse gas emissions. A concept whose philosophical and religious roots are founded on the idea of individual asceticism, the notion of sufficiency invites us to question the usefulness of our needs in terms of goods and services, as well as rethink methods we use for production and collective organization. While sufficiency-based approaches are today encountered in many different fields, as illustrated in this issue of Facts, they also pose a number of challenges. For example, sufficiency comes up against the question of inequalities as well as the challenge of desirability.
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1Beyond cultural and geographic differences, the ecological emergency, particularly in the face of the climate crisis, is increasingly being recognized as a shared priority. Yet, despite this more or less unanimous diagnosis, today’s responses remain extremely varied. Among the current paradigms attempting to tackle the common challenge of addressing social and developmental deficiencies without exceeding planetary boundaries, the concept of sufficiency is the one that has been widely embraced in recent years. However, this tendency is by no means universal, since the relevancy and maturity of ideas about sufficiency depend to a great extent on the country and the issues in question.
2The French example is an interesting textbook case. A number of actors from civil society, foresight bodies and the energy sector recently helped to map out definitions and bring discussions on sufficiency to the fore in the public arena. These efforts were rewarded with the term’s adoption in the national energy sufficiency plan rolled out in winter 2022. The 6th IPCC report, published in 2023, also dedicated a chapter to sufficiency, examined as part of a wider look at potential cuts in greenhouse gas emissions achievable through reducing demand.
3This growing interest in sufficiency has also triggered wide-ranging debates surrounding the concept’s legitimacy and usefulness, as well as the feasibility of its take-up. In order to better understand sufficiency’s theoretical underpinnings, its newfound popularity and the challenges it faces, as well as to identify real-world levers for implementing it, this issue of the Facts review sets out to present a variety of contributions to compare viewpoints and perspectives. Constructive and critical, the analyses in this issue seek to clarify the debate, doing justice to the unique characteristics and relevance of sufficiency but without minimizing all the difficulties raised by reductions at source in demand for goods and services.
Sufficiency: a plural concept
From individual self-sufficiency to emission reduction scenarios: the birth of collective sufficiency
4Sufficiency, unlike the notions of green growth, sustainable development and inclusive growth, is rooted in reflections that center on self-sufficiency, frugality and the renouncement of certain present-day consumer and production practices. It is rooted in a long tradition of philosophical and religious thinking that favors an ideal of individual moderation, even asceticism, seen as synonymous with virtue. A heritage explored by philosopher Emrys Westacott in this issue.
- 1 Jarrige, F. (2022). Dans l’Histoire, la sobriété a longtemps été une évidence [Throughout history, (...)
5Initially restricted to the sphere of personal ethics, the concept of sufficiency evolved during the 1970s and gradually emerged as an alternative to the society of (excess) consumption. This evolution came about in part thanks to the work of intellectuals such as Jacques Ellul and Ivan Illich, critics of technological progress whose ideas met with a particularly warm welcome in France. Contemporary thinking on sufficiency cannot be disassociated from criticism of the industrial consumer society’s negative externalities. Prior to the 1960s, sufficiency was long held to be self-evident, as described by historian François Jarrige.1
6More recently, over the past couple of decades, the concept has been progressively employed by advocates of ecological transition to encourage an examination of the true utility of individual needs. Three fundamental criteria emerged: the superfluous, the useful and the necessary.
- 2 ADEME, Panorama sur la notion de sobriété [Overview of the notion of sufficiency], (2019).
7In this context, what should be today’s definition of sufficiency? The concept’s popularity means that different definitions coexist, a situation that leads to a measure of ambiguity and uncertainty. We might look to ADEME, the French agency for ecological transition, and define sufficiency as “a continuum of approaches that promote, in varying degrees and on varying scales, moderation in the production and consumption of energy and material resources, via a transformation of lifestyles that goes further than merely seeking efficiency.”2 Nuances notwithstanding, thinkers working on sufficiency agree on a fundamental conceptual and operational dividing line that clearly distinguishes between sufficiency and efficiency. Whereas efficiency seeks to satisfy existing needs by reducing the amount of energy consumed, sufficiency focuses on thinking about these needs, questioning their relevance and utility at the individual and collective levels. The triptych of sufficiency, efficiency and renewable energy is central to the approach put forward in France by a nonprofit called négaWatt, founded in 2001, that has helped to cement the distinction between sufficiency and efficiency.
8Despite semantic complexities that can make it difficult to translate the original French concept of "sobriété" in English – sufficiency and frugality are both used in this issue depending on author preference –, it is a concept with widespread international recognition. Its success derives largely from its capacity to create convergence between long-standing issues, such as decoupling production from emissions, the questioning of consumer society, and more recent concerns.
- 3 Recent examples: Maddox, T. Simple Living ; Seymour, J. Self-sufficiency ; Becker, J. The more of L (...)
9Sufficiency encompasses new concerns and lifestyle aspirations such as self-sufficiency, frugality and voluntary simplicity. There is also a clear rise in the number of mainstream publications focused on living better with less, particularly in the English-speaking world.3 From this perspective, sufficiency and a focus on levers that allow individuals to take action are symptoms of the changing face of present-day individualism, and the central role that lifestyles now play as levers for asserting one's identity.
- 4 From left to right: Princen, T. (2005). The Logic of Sufficiency. Paperback ; Loreau, D. (2005). L’ (...)
Growing number of publications on simplicity and sufficiency4
10The concept of sufficiency also aligns well with energy sovereignty, an issue pushed to the fore by the war in Ukraine. Against this background, sufficiency is presented by certain observers as the price to pay for fundamental freedoms and international solidarity.
A concept adopted in multiple variants by a broad range of stakeholders
- 5 Chapter of IPCC report dealing with sufficiency: Demand, services and social aspects of mitigation.
11One illustration of this strong international uptake is that in 2023, for the first time, the IPCC highlighted sufficiency as one of the pillars needed for meeting greenhouse gas emission targets set by the Paris Agreement. The third part of the sixth IPCC report says that changes to lifestyles and energy uses are essential to transition.5 The report sets out its demand-side solutions, the phrases used most often being: demand-side strategies, demand-side mitigation actions, deep demand reduction, low demand scenarios, reduced demand, downshifting, sufficiency, changes in consumption choices, and socio-cultural and lifestyle changes.
12Specifically, the IPCC authors classify sixty or so individual actions into one of three categories:
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Avoid: actions to avoid, like eating less meat, taking fewer flights, etc.;
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Shift: behavioral alterations in the service of new lifestyles, such as working from home, using public transportation and cycling;
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Improve: individual levers for reducing energy usage for existing behaviors (mainly insulation for buildings).
13The IPCC views sufficiency as complementary to technological solutions (techniques for eliminating carbon dioxide), the use of renewables, and other responses such as the circular economy and improving the resilience of infrastructures. Contributions from economist Aude Pommeret and behavioral scientist Xavier Brisbois examine the role changes in individual behaviors could play, and the difficulties in bringing these changes about.
14Sufficiency is now seemingly a concept adopted by a broad range of stakeholders beyond simply an inner circle of campaigners and NGOs. Take-up is all the greater by virtue of it being a plural concept that can be expressed in multiple ways, adapted to the diversity of stakeholders and their ambitions and approaches to the topic.
15In addition to the IPCC’s approach, sufficiency is central to various future-looking scenarios for reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 in France and internationally.
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- 6 ADEME, Transition(s) 2050.
ADEME. As part of its forward-looking study Transition(s) 2050, ADEME defined four scenarios for reaching carbon neutrality in 2050, one of them sufficiency-based (Frugal Generation) which could deliver savings in energy use of up to 55%.6
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- 7 IEA, Net Zero by 2050. This scenario was updated in September 2023 (Net Zero Roadmap).
International Energy Agency. The IEA included sufficiency in its zero net emissions strategy published in May 2021.7 It states that cutting excessive or useless energy use would help cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 4% over the entire pathway.
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- 8 RTE, Futurs énergétiques 2050 [Energy futures 2050].
RTE. In October 2021, France’s electricity network manager published six scenarios for carbon neutrality by 2050.8 It lists 25 actions to boost sufficiency across four sectors (residential, offices, industrial, transport) that could allow France to achieve a 90-TWh cut in its electricity use by 2050.
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- 9 négawatt, Scénario 2022.
négaWatt. In October 2021, the nonprofit published the fifth edition of its forward-looking report9 focused on three levers: sufficiency (prioritizing essential needs), efficiency (insulating buildings) and using renewable energy.
16Sufficiency has now become a key theme for all major environmental NGOs, despite the concept being appropriated in different ways. Organizations like WWF and the Climate Action Network encourage changes to everyday items and behaviors — how plastic is used, for example — to demonstrate that “happy sufficiency” is possible.
17The success of sufficiency is also a result of its multiple real-world applications. Sufficiency has incrementally extended its scope to spheres beyond just energy sufficiency. Many industries have now adopted approaches guided by sufficiency, from digital devices to textiles, urban planning and, obviously, the management of natural resources. We have made every effort to illustrate this diversity throughout the issue, giving a platform to figures from the fashion industry (Stéphanie Calvino), researchers specializing in cities (Charlotte Halpern), and an expert in food system sufficiency (Marius Korsnes). Each, in their own way, shines a light on the broad palette of sufficiency approaches that extend beyond individual actions. To conclude the issue, Philippe Bihouix argues in favor of sufficiency that is organized and systemic, and not dependent on decisions taken by individuals.
- 10 négaWatt, Qu’est-ce que la sobriété? [What is Sufficiency?], (2016).
What is sufficiency? definitions put forward by négaWatt
négaWatt suggests identifying four different types of sufficiency.10
Structural sufficiency, which consists of looking at how our space or activities are organized and within that scope, creating the conditions needed for moderating our consumption (for example, in planning terms by reducing the distance needed to travel to work, to shops, etc.).
Dimensional sufficiency, which concerns scaling equipment and facilities to properly reflect their uses (for example, by using vehicles whose mass, size and power is suited to local or long distance journeys).
Usage sufficiency, which involves using facilities and equipment correctly to reduce consumption (for example, by switching off devices kept in standby mode, lowering driving speed limits, and extending the lifespan of facilities and equipment).
Collaborative sufficiency, which entails pooling facilities and equipment and their usage (for example, car sharing mechanisms and incentives to encourage shared working or living spaces).
Inequalities and desirability: sufficiency faces complex challenges
Sufficiency and the challenges of inequalities
18Implementing sufficiency will always come up against the question of inequalities, reflecting the tension between chosen and imposed sufficiency. In OECD countries, the objectives of sufficiency have to take account of the need for social justice and fair transition. A number of recent crises, such as the yellow vests protests in France, illustrate the increasingly powerful interconnection between climate challenges and the fight against inequality. The question of unequal CO2 emissions between different social classes is central to the position of NGOs like Oxfam, whose demands in terms of sufficiency center on consumption by the richest portions of society, seeking to make certain specific behaviors, such as regular flying, seem unacceptable.
19Internationally, the concept of sufficiency finds little support among countries with developing economies, where the concern is that it simply equates to keeping poor countries mired in poverty. Amazingly, the term sufficiency appears in neither the 2014 Addis Ababa Declaration nor the 2030 Agenda. It features only rarely in a few very recent international texts. In his contribution, economist Alessio Terzi examines issues raised by growth and innovation and highlights the extent to which the prospect of degrowth, invariably associated with sufficiency at the collective level, cannot in his opinion be seen as a desirable avenue for future development.
The search for messaging that makes sufficiency desirable
20Faced with the difficulty of turning ecological transition into a concrete reality, many actors today are attempting to address the issue of desirability and the role played by perceptions and new forms of storytelling. These actors take as their starting point a twofold hypothesis: to bring about ecological transition and changes to individual and collective behaviors requires making sufficiency not just acceptable but also desirable. According to Estelle Brachlianoff, Chief Executive Officer of Veolia, “Our task now is to make sure ecology and desirability go hand in hand.” Equally, creating desirability must rely not simply on rational arguments but also on the leveraging of perceptions, representations and storytelling.
21The question of desirability is particularly significant when it comes to sufficiency, which finds itself confronted by at least two competing forms of storytelling. First is that of the consumer society, which remains a foundational aspiration for most people. Then there is messaging surrounding techno-optimism and green growth, promoting the idea that innovation and technology can solve the ecological challenges we face.
22Against this background a number of figures, most of them French, are trying to develop new storytelling about the desirability of "intensive sufficiency". They argue for messaging that combines technological sufficiency and reducing needs (priority to low-tech techniques, cuts in consumption) with the rediscovery of a more intensive relationship with the natural world. Advocates of this form of messaging stress the desire for ways to reconnect with nature. In France, this discourse is promoted by intellectuals and academics such as science fiction author Alain Damasio, anthropologist Philippe Descola and philosopher Baptiste Morizot, author of Ways of Being Alive, 2020. In their article, researchers Nathan Ben Kemoun and Pauline Vigey describe the unsuspected potential of this form of intensive sufficiency. Researchers Mary Lawhon and Tyler McCreary offer an examination of the concept of “enoughness”, which entails rethinking our organizational methods and relationships to work in particular.
- 11 Fourquet, J. (2021). La France sous nos yeux [France before our eyes].
23Notwithstanding these efforts, in reality the adoption of sufficiency at individual levels remains ambivalent yet emerging, as described by Cécile Désaunay in her article examining the extent and reality of “deconsumption” in French society. Access to consumer society and certain goods and services remains a marker of success and social integration, particularly for the working and middle classes. More fundamentally, as pointed out by Mathieu Saujot, the very act of defining what needs are judged essential or legitimate raises profound social and political questions. Moreover, new barriers are emerging that render access to more sustainable forms of consumption difficult for a large number of people. Works by political scientist Jérôme Fourquet also point to the gradual premiumization of certain food and clothing choices in particular.11 Discussing conclusions drawn from her book The Sum of Small Things, political scientist Elizabeth Currid-Halkett points out that consumption that is “discreet” and sustainable may become a new form of social distinction.
- 12 See, among others, Foessel, M. (2022). Quartier Rouge, le plaisir et la gauche [Red-light district. (...)
24Finally, sufficiency remains tarnished by its association with austerity, self-limitation and restriction. It is interesting to note that the construction of discourses advocating sufficiency oscillates between, on the one hand, a form of blaming — and the stigmatization of certain values previously associated with mobility (flight shaming) or comfort — and the promotion of a joyous sufficiency that is “within reach” on the other. In this issue, anthropologist Stefano Boni examines how challenges to people’s comfort acts as a brake on the implementation of collective sufficiency. Parallel to this is a counterargument that encourages people to reappropriate the idea of pleasure shared, contrary to the ascetic, perhaps austere, ideal of sufficiency.12
25Although these observations are all rooted in the context of industrialized countries, in this issue we have sought to broaden our gaze as far as possible by shining a light on how sufficiency is seen internationally, with contributions from Blick Bassy, who examines the “natural sufficiency” of water management methods in Cameroon, Marius Korsnes, who describes sufficiency in China, and Charlotte Halpern, who examines the specific challenges facing cities of the global South in regard to sufficiency-based development.
Conclusion
26Sufficiency is clearly a fertile concept, but it also faces multiple challenges. The diversity of approaches described in this issue serves to highlight the need to hybridize sufficiency with other approaches, messages and paradigms. The model represented by the french secondhand platform leboncoin, as described by its managing director Amandine de Souza, provides an instructive example. In a wider sense, reinventing business models to center on sufficiency can be thought of as a complex trajectory entailing a greater or lesser degree of renouncement, as described by Laurence Lehmann Ortega, rather than a form of one-size-fits-all renouncement. Sufficiency can certainly be a useful and necessary lever for meeting the challenges of ecological transformation, as illustrated by Jean-François Nogrette in terms of water sufficiency. Equally, it can benefit from being coupled with other approaches, such as innovation, circularity and efficiency, to help it gain greater acceptability and desirability.
Notes
1 Jarrige, F. (2022). Dans l’Histoire, la sobriété a longtemps été une évidence [Throughout history, sufficiency has long been the norm.]. La Tribune.
2 ADEME, Panorama sur la notion de sobriété [Overview of the notion of sufficiency], (2019).
3 Recent examples: Maddox, T. Simple Living ; Seymour, J. Self-sufficiency ; Becker, J. The more of Less.
4 From left to right: Princen, T. (2005). The Logic of Sufficiency. Paperback ; Loreau, D. (2005). L’art de la simplicité [The Art of simplicity]. Marabout ; Rabhi, P. (2010). Vers la Sobriété heureuse [Towards Happy Frugality]. Actes Sud ; Maddox, T. (2015). Simple Living. Kindle Edition ; Becker, J. (2016). The More of Less. WaterBrook ; Seymour, J. (2009). The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency, Dk – Dorling Kindersley.
5 Chapter of IPCC report dealing with sufficiency: Demand, services and social aspects of mitigation.
6 ADEME, Transition(s) 2050.
7 IEA, Net Zero by 2050. This scenario was updated in September 2023 (Net Zero Roadmap).
8 RTE, Futurs énergétiques 2050 [Energy futures 2050].
9 négawatt, Scénario 2022.
10 négaWatt, Qu’est-ce que la sobriété? [What is Sufficiency?], (2016).
11 Fourquet, J. (2021). La France sous nos yeux [France before our eyes].
12 See, among others, Foessel, M. (2022). Quartier Rouge, le plaisir et la gauche [Red-light district. The Left & pleasure]. PUF.
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References
Bibliographical reference
Iris Levy and David Ménascé, “Sufficiency: the social and symbolic challenges. Scoping and presentation of this issue”, Field Actions Science Reports, Special Issue 26 | 2024, 10-13.
Electronic reference
Iris Levy and David Ménascé, “Sufficiency: the social and symbolic challenges. Scoping and presentation of this issue”, Field Actions Science Reports [Online], Special Issue 26 | 2024, Online since 10 August 2024, connection on 11 December 2025. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/factsreports/7400
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