Sachs, W. (2023). Sufficiency. In N. Wallenhorst & C. Wulf (Eds.), Handbook of the Anthropocene (pp. 799–803). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25910-4_130
The article reviews the concept of ‘sufficiency’ as an antidote to the expansive modernity. The notion, appreciated by the most time-honoured wisdom traditions of the world, appears to be of decisive significance for human action in confronting the Anthropocene. As a political response, sufficiency runs counter to the imperative of escalation in speed, distance, and volume in goods and services that rules (post)industrial societies. It promotes the over-all aim of living well within ecological and social limits, rejecting an unduly technical and economic optimism. The entry scans the efforts of sufficiency in energy, mobility, buildings, land, food, and data.

Zell-Ziegler, C., & Toulouse, E. (2023). Sufficiency – A Scoping Paper. Oeko-Institut e.V. https://www.oeko.de/publikationen/p-details/sufficiency-a-scoping-paper
The aim of this scoping paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the concept of sufficiency and to show or recommend how it could be operationalised in the context of EU or national policymaking. Furthermore, open questions related to sufficiency are named and partly discussed in the different parts of the paper. These can be seen as proposals for future research. For both parts, we reviewed a broad set of literature on sufficiency and did own data analysis.

Elo, M., Grénman, M., Uusitalo, O., & Räikkönen, J. (2024). Eudaimonia and temperance- Interdisciplinary perspectives on planetary well-being. Routledge.
The concept of planetary well-being rests on the idea that since human activities are among the root causes of the ecological crisis threatening the well-being of human and nonhuman nature, accordingly, solutions lie in transforming human behaviour and shifting the prevailing paradigm towards embracing enhanced visions of the “good life.” The ongoing ecological crisis has evoked profound questions regarding the nature of the good life, requiring consciousness and reflection of scholars’ paradigmatic worldviews. This chapter adopts the lenses of transformative consumer research (TCR) and positive psychology, emphasizing individual, societal, and environmental well-being—challenging the assumptions guiding mainstream marketing and consumer research. The chapter discusses planetary well-being from the premises of Aristotelian eudaimonia, which encompasses pursuing a life of meaning, virtue, and excellence.

Ek, K. (2023). The pursuit of a sustainable energy culture at Taplow Court: A space of faith where British heritage and Japanese Buddhism coincide. Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science, Lund University. http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9120027
As efforts to decarbonise energy systems have failed, attention turns to addressing disproportionate energy consumption through behavioural adjustments. Given the influence of religion on worldviews and behaviour, this thesis inductively and intimately examines the energy-related practises of the UK headquarters of the Buddhist organisation Soka Gakkai International. In its ethnographic approach, this thesis mobilises the Energy Cultures Framework and Gough’s three stages of decarbonisation. The research demonstrates the influence of shared identities on behaviour in spaces of faith and the openness of these spaces to learn from and engage with external actors.

Pagliano, L., & Erba, S. (2023). FULFILL Project— Literature Review on Sufficiency, Definitions and Indicators (Deliverables D2.1 & 2.2). https://fulfill-sufficiency.eu/our-research/
This report reviews the literature identified by the experts of the Fulfill consortium based on their previous research work and on additional bibliographic research performed during the initial phase of the project. The review aims at exploring the theoretical and conceptual foundations of climate-oriented life-style changes. More specifically, it outlines the current state of knowledge on the role of the sufficiency principle in lifestyle changes as well as a screening of the literature on potential effect of sufficiency-oriented policies. The report also establishes an operative definition of sufficiency and a list of quantitative and qualitative indicators to study lifestyle changes in relation to decarbonisation strategies.

Flipo, A., & Rabourdin, S. (2023). FULFILL Project— In-depth analysis of highly sufficient lifestyles. https://fulfill-sufficiency.eu/our-research/
This deliverable builds on socio anthropological fieldwork conducted in six countries with participants from intentional communities and with panel respondents selected from the cross country survey on carbon footprints deployed in the previous task. We investigate sufficiency routines and habits and their impact on respondents’ daily lives in the intentional communities across four main domains: housing, food, goods, and ecovillages. In a second section we explore the views on sufficiency and consumption choices of both low income and high income households from the panel selected on their carbon footprint. Though environmental concern may be widespread, it is rarely the main motive for joining a sufficiency oriented initiative. Our research fully supports the evidence of a positive effect of sufficiency on wellbeing but suggests that wellbeing might the motive rather than the effect.

Buschka, M., Schepelmann, P., & Haake, H. (2023). FULFILL Project— Municipal sufficiency strategies and policies (Deliverables D4.2 & D4.3). https://fulfill-sufficiency.eu/our-research/
In a first step, 50 local initiatives and intentional communities in cities and regions were mapped in five countries that aim at sustainable lifestyles or living conditions. In a second step, a survey was conducted among these initiatives to identify municipal policies that support sufficiency lifestyles promoted by the local initiatives and intentional communities on the one hand. On the other hand, the survey was designed to identify the impacts sufficiency initiatives are aiming for. In a third step, these organisations were invited to five national workshops to present the results of the survey and to confirm the evidence and preliminary conclusions in subsequent discussions.

Flipo, A., & Rabourdin, S. (2023). FULFILL Project— From pioneering sufficiency lifestyles to a sufficiency society. https://fulfill-sufficiency.eu/our-research/
A comparative analysis is carried out between the six countries covered in the project, so as to understand whether enablers and barriers of sufficient lifestyles are different depending on country (effects of cultural and national context). To that end, we investigate the macro frameworks and national contexts regarding sufficiency in each country. We first explore the different  definitions of sufficiency as a concept in the countries covered. We then present the national and cultural specificities with regard to lifestyles and energy consumption, based on data and sources provided by thenational partners. We then address the situation of the 2022-2023 winter regarding the energy crisis, especially with regard to the increase of energy prices and the policies implemented to mitigate them.

Agnew, M. D., Pettifor, H., & Wilson, C. (2023). Lifestyle, an integrative concept: Cross‐disciplinary insights for low‐carbon research. WIREs Energy and Environment, e490. https://doi.org/10.1002/wene.490
Lifestyle change is a fundamental component of transformative pathways to net‐zero emissions. Despite the pervasive use of ‘lifestyle’ as a concept, there is lack of convergence on what constitutes lifestyle due to contrasting perspectives and approaches within and across disciplines. While there is a long tradition of lifestyle research in public health and in marketing, this does not currently inform low‐carbon lifestyle research. We review a wide range of empirical and theoretical lifestyle studies using a directed thematic approach. Focusing on current knowledge within low‐carbon lifestyles research, we draw insights from two contrasting research perspectives (health, marketing) to support and advance low‐carbon research.

Axon, S., Lent, T., & Njoku, A. (2023). Shifting sustainable lifestyle practices and behaviour during times of pandemic disruptive change: Implications for on-going socio-technical transitions. Energy Research & Social Science, 102, 103188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2023.103188
COVID-19 has extensively reshaped lifestyle practices, supply chain dynamics, and climate mitigation efforts. The resulting crises from the pandemic in relation to local and community sustainability practices have not yet been investigated in depth. There is a need to explore the individual characteristics and responses from rapid transitions of lifestyles at various scales. Presenting empirical findings from semi-structured interviews in New Haven County, Connecticut, this study elucidates the ways in which the lifestyles have been altered and how they responded while specifically highlighting the consequences for behavioural routines and sustainable lifestyle practices. As a result of lockdowns and pandemic mitigation responses, individual sustainability engagement fluctuated with participants shifting dietary, mobility, and energy and food consumption patterns.

Jain, V. K., Gupta, A., & Verma, H. (2023). Goodbye materialism: Exploring antecedents of minimalism and its impact on millennials well-being. Environment, Development and Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-023-03437-0
The purpose of the study is to explore the antecedents of minimalism and, further, to study the impact of minimalism on millennials’ well-being via a sense of fulfilment. This research establishes the mediating role of a sense of fulfilment in the interactions between minimalism and well-being and shows how environmental awareness, contemporary aesthetics, voluntary simplicity, normative influence, and resource sharing positively lead to minimalism. The study suggests a thorough model to comprehend the origins of minimalism. Additionally, it established a connection between well-being and minimalism.

Fu, L., Zhang, Z., & Nagai, Y. (2023). Minimalism and personal well-being: A study of current trends in China. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 1–21.  https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2023.2231987 https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2023.2231987
Owing to its positive impact on individual well-being, the concept of minimalism has garnered increasing attention from scholars worldwide. However, current research is primarily inferential and lacks empirical evidence. This study aimed to examine and validate scientific evidence of the positive impact of minimalism on individual well-being by developing a research model that explores the relationship between minimalist lifestyles and personal well-being. To this end, highly validated data from Chinese residents were analyzed using factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis. The findings indicate that Chinese residents’ minimalist lifestyle is influenced by three key factors: clutter removal, cautious shopping, and a high-cycle life. Furthermore, minimalism was found to impact personal well-being positively, with clutter removal being the most significant contributing factor. These results suggest that minimalism can be an effective lifestyle choice that positively affects personal well-being and quality of life across different cultural and social contexts, albeit with variations in expression and concern. This research contributes to the Minimalist Well-being Model, which comprehensively explains how minimalism is defined in relation to well-being.

Brizga, J., Jørgensen, M. S., Olesen, G. B., & Lekavicius, V. (2023). Energy Sufficiency policy approach to geopolitical risks and rising energy prices. Environmental and Earth Sciences. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202308.0194.v1
In 2021 an acute energy crisis inflicted severe damage on the global economy, leading to escalated prices for electricity, gas, and fuel. In order to shield individuals and businesses from the mounting energy expenses, governments have been compelled to implement policy measures, including tax reductions, price restrictions or discounts, and subsidies. This research paper examines these policy responses through the lens of energy sufficiency. Energy poverty poses a significant threat to social cohesion and support for climate-related initiatives. Therefore, it is imperative to employ compensatory measures. However, the design of such solutions must carefully consider the incentives to reduce energy consumption and associated carbon emissions. The findings of the analysis demonstrate that the escalation of energy costs holds promise for achieving energy sufficiency.

Lage, J., Thema, J., Zell-Ziegler, C., Best, B., Cordroch, L., & Wiese, F. (2023). Citizens call for sufficiency and regulation—A comparison of European citizen assemblies and National Energy and Climate Plans. Energy Research & Social Science, 104, 103254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2023.103254
Following previous work on the National Energy and Climate Plans of EU countries, we conduct a similar content analysis of the recommendations made by citizen assemblies on climate change mitigation in ten European countries and the EU, and compare the results of these studies. We identify a total of 860 mitigation policy recommendations in the citizen assemblies’ documents, of which 332 (39 %) include sufficiency. Most of the sufficiency policies relate to the mobility sector, the least relate to the buildings sector. Regulatory instruments are the most often proposed means for achieving sufficiency, followed by fiscal and economic instruments. The average approval rate of sufficiency policies is high (93 %), with the highest rates for regulatory policies. Consequently, the recommendations can be interpreted as a call for a sufficiency turn and a regulatory turn in climate mitigation politics.

Lindgren, O., Hahn, T., Karlsson, M., & Malmaeus, M. (2023). Exploring sufficiency in energy policy: Insights from Sweden. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 19(1), 2212501. https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2023.2212501
This study draws on the growing sufficiency literature to examine the presence of sufficiency as a strategy for reducing energy-related GHG emissions in Sweden, a country often regarded as a “climate-progressive” country. By conducting a keyword and content analysis of energy policies and parliamentary debates during four governmental terms of office (2006–2022), this research explores the extent to which sufficiency is integrated into Swedish energy policy, as well as potential barriers to its adoption. The analyses revealed a scarcity of sufficiency elements. Although some policies could potentially result in energy savings, they are infrequent and overshadowed by the prevailing emphasis on efficiency and renewable energy.

Sascha, N. (2023). Action Levers towards Sustainable Wellbeing: Re-Thinking Negative Emissions, Sufficiency, Deliberative Democracy. Thesis, EPFL. https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/303200?ln=en
Systems theory defines leverage points as places to intervene in order to change a system. Points with high impact on system behavior are notoriously hard to act upon, and indeed most policy intervention is based at the lowest level, via subsidies, taxes, or standards. This thesis explores how some of our most pressing issues, especially climate, biodiversity, or inequality, could be effectively solved using ‘action levers’, coordinated action on multiple leverage points, like mindset (#2), system goal (#3), power to change system structure (#4), or rules (#5). We modeled two cases, Switzerland and global aviation, and found that an effective 1.5°C-compatible climate policy is affordable and accelerates today’s strategies by more than a decade. Sufficiency is central to any sustainable society. Several limitations remain: the role of fossil fuel bans, needed public investments, quantification of a transition towards sufficiency, or how to build acceptance and integrate deliberative assemblies into the political system. Still, the conclusion is clear: the three action levers can be effective, and reinforce each other.

Anderson, L. (2023). Seeking transformative lifestyles: A role for social media influencers in creating sustainable futures. University of British Columbia.
Academics, NGOs, and governments alike have called upon social media influencers to support sociocultural change for sustainability by promoting and popularising more sustainable ways of living. Enabling influencers to answer this call requires a better understanding of how and why these salient members of social media communities understand and portray sustainable lifestyles. This thesis asked: what elements of sustainable lifestyles do influencers promote, and how do they portray the desirability of these lifestyles to their audiences? Through a qualitative study that draws on conceptions of transformative change for sustainability, pro-sustainability values, and subjective wellbeing, this thesis found that some influencers are already promoting private pro-sustainability actions in ways that signal both the hedonic and eudaimonic value of more sustainable ways of living.

Chamaret, C., Guérineau, M., & Mayer, J. C. (2023). When saying “enough” is not enough: How cultivating households’ mindfulness through gamification can promote energy sufficiency. Energy Research & Social Science, 105, 103294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2023.103294
In France, despite the growing importance of public policies to encourage domestic energy sufficiency, there is little understanding of their effectiveness in maintaining households’ daily efforts to moderate their use of energy over time. We investigate how gamification instruments can develop households’ mindfulness, i.e., the extent of the efforts made (vividness) and their duration in time (stability) to integrate sufficiency practices into their routines. Our empirical material comprises 18 interviews with participants in the Déclics challenge covering towns in the eastern Paris region, a 1-year participant observation, and complementary interviews and meetings with organizers. Our findings reveal mixed effects of the challenge according to the different household profiles identified in terms of the vividness of their practices before, during and after the challenge and their responses to the challenge’s gamification instruments. Our study shows that policymakers should invest further in designing interventions that reduce the efforts required from individuals to integrate sufficiency into their routines.

Ivanova, D., & Büchs, M. (2023). Barriers and enablers around radical sharing. The Lancet Planetary Health, 7(9), e784–e792. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(23)00168-7
Multiple social and ecological crises are currently unfolding, the tackling of which requires a thorough understanding of their interlinkages and root causes. More sharing of essential resources while increasing access to valuable goods and services, especially for the most vulnerable in society, has been proposed as an effective strategy to reduce environmental and social damage. However, a more reflective approach to sharing is needed to make sure that it does not worsen some of the issues that it aims to address. In this Personal View, we outline the principles of radical sharing, which highlight the salience of environmental limits, access to essential goods and services, and non-exploitative relationships. Furthermore, we discuss key enablers and barriers to radical sharing and a more successful integration into sharing practices that prioritise needs satisfaction for all within planetary boundaries. Critical perspectives on the sharing economy need to account for the role of power, politics, capitalism, and citizenship alongside the more widely discussed issues around exploitation, discrimination, and greenwashing.

Mychajluk, L. (2023). Learning sustainability through enterprise work in ecovillages. Studies in Continuing Education, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/0158037X.2023.2222072
As experiments and models of participatory, sustainable living, ecovillages demonstrate how to enact just, cooperative, and regenerative economic and social constructs, as alternatives to ‘unsustainable’ capitalist economies and consumerist/individualistic lifestyles. This paper reports on case studies of learning through enterprise work in two ecovillages in the USA. Findings evidence a high degree of informal ‘on the job’ learning, resulting in both job-specific skills and knowledge, and general competencies in eco/ethical business management. Furthermore, participants imbue activities with shared values of ecology and equality, while interacting with oppositional broader market logics, and thus learn to ‘trade off’ – taking on some aspects of the mainstream economy (e.g. competitiveness, profitability, (self)exploitation), in exchange for ‘the greater good.’

CLEVER scenario—Climate neutrality, Energy security and Sustainability: A pathway to bridge the gap through Sufficiency, Efficiency and Renewables. CLEVER Consortium.
This report is the result of 4 years of collaborative work between European experts from the academia and civil society of 20+ European countries, under the leadership of the négaWatt Association. The CLEVER scenario, which covers 30 countries (EU27 plus United-Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland), is based on a unique approach that combines sufficiency, efficiency and renewables and aims to reconcile long-term climate and sustainability imperatives with short-term energy security constraints. While EU energy and climate scenarios are often built top-down with little national granularity, CLEVER is a fully bottom-up aggregation of national trajectories. It proposes a transformation pathway for Europe, the EU and its MemberStates, which is feasible – and deeply enshrined into national contexts, with equity and European integration as core values.

Büchs, M., Cass, N., Mullen, C., Lucas, K., & Ivanova, D. (2023). Emissions savings from equitable energy demand reduction. Nature Energy. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-023-01283-y
Energy demand reduction (EDR) will be required to reach climate targets in the Global North. To be compatible with just transitions principles, EDR needs to be equitable. Equitable EDR may involve targeting high energy users while ensuring the satisfaction of needs for all, which could require increasing consumption of low users. Emissions impacts of equitable EDR approaches have not yet been assessed. This Article finds that capping energy use of the top quintile of consumers across 27 European countries can achieve considerable greenhouse gas emissions reductions of 11.4% from domestic energy, 16.8% from transport and 9.7% from total energy consumption. Increasing consumption of low energy users in poverty reduces these savings by only 1.2, 0.9 and 1.4 percentage points, respectively. Additional high annual emissions cuts of 7.3–24.0% would be required for Europe to meet globally equitable 2050 emissions budgets. Equitable EDR could make an important contribution to increasing public acceptance of such transformative action.

Pettifor, H., Agnew, M., & Wilson, C. (2023). A framework for measuring and modelling low-carbon lifestyles. Global Environmental Change, 82, 102739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102739
There is a need for a more accessible lifestyle typology to promote understanding of lifestyle and its main drivers. In this paper we present a lifestyle typology for application to low-carbon research based on publicly available data from national statistical agencies. We apply our framework using hierarchical cluster analysis of nationally representative household social survey data. We select four countries with contrasting contexts and lifestyles. We identify four low-carbon lifestyle types – ‘Resourceful’, ‘Active’, ‘Constrained’ and ‘Cautious’ – that are consistent across countries and robust to variation in analytical approach. Our findings can guide policy interventions for enabling low-carbon lifestyles, and enhance research efforts to model lifestyle. An improved understanding of lifestyle and its contribution in achieving the Paris Agreement climate targets, could also enhance efforts to visualise and plan for the low-carbon transition.

Arnz, M., & Krumm, A. (2023). Sufficiency in passenger transport and its potential for lowering energy demand. Environmental Research Letters, 18(9), 094008. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acea98
Prior research suggests that energy demand-side interventions have a large potential in climate change mitigation, connected to co-benefits in human well-being and several Sustainable Development Goals. However, it is challenging to translate such strategies into local and sectoral realities. We explore sufficiency futures for German passenger transport, a sector that is assumed to further grow in most studies, to analyse demand reduction potentials. In an interdisciplinary research design, we collect 133 diverse drivers of change of which we construct three sufficiency storylines. We translate them into parameters of the aggregated transport model quetzal_germany and quantify it through an expert survey. Results indicate that passenger transport energy demand can be lowered by up to 73%, while pointing at the various cultural, political, economic, technological, and organisational developments that are responsible for this change and show co-benefits for well-being. 

Kuittinen, M. (2023). Building within planetary boundaries: Moving construction to stewardship. Buildings and Cities, 4(1), 565–574. https://doi.org/10.5334/bc.351
Rapid and drastic reductions in global carbon emissions and robust approaches to climate-related events are required urgently to remain within the planetary boundaries. Therefore, a new hierarchy for solving spatial needs is required: the Global North should avoid making new buildings, where and whenever possible. Instead, using existing spaces, renovating, adapting or extending the existing buildings would be much preferred. Such a hierarchy must be applied with context sensitivity. Especially the social needs of developing countries or communities recovering from humanitarian disasters should be adequately met, including the option of new construction. Because of the historical responsibility as well as the current climate leadership, a fair transition should start from Europe.

Cauchet Prego, E. (2023). Applying sufficiency strategies in the housing sector in the Parisian Region. Independent thesis, KTH Royal Institute of Technology. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1788364&dswid=-370
The application of sufficiency principles to the housing sector in Paris can be done through several strategies, and synergies were found between these measures. First, the reduction of construction rates appears to be an important lever to reduce the impact of the sector, and it implies the definition of a strategy at a national scale. A change in the types and sizes of dwellings built would not necessarily have a great impact in Île-de-France, as there are mostly apartments of reasonable sizes. The development of cohousing could have a great impact, both for the environment and on social terms, especially considering more vulnerable households when it comes to dwellings in the Region, such as elderly, single-parents, or students. Cohousing appears to be otherwise more difficult to accept by the population outside of special situations such as student life or retirement. Rehabilitating unused square meters as housing could contribute to a reduction of construction rates in the Region.

Barber, D. A. (2023). Solar architecture and the sufficiency imperative. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Transition, 4, 100066. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rset.2023.100066
In architecture solar energy continues to be seen as a salve, a convenient and effective response to the forces – social, regulatory, economic – pushing for more and more efficient energy use in buildings. Amidst the broad discourse around the just energy transition, photovoltaic solar energy is itself most likely transitional, contingent and conditional.The analysis of architecture provides a few windows on to the nuances and challenges of this next phase of the just energy transition – on how we can collectively think differently around resources and their provision in our buildings, as a site for both collectivization and social transformation.

Bärnthaler, R., & Gough, I. (2023). Provisioning for sufficiency: Envisaging production corridors. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 19(1), 2218690. https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2023.2218690
This article deepens the framework of a sufficiency economy, defining sufficiency as the space between a floor of meeting needs and a ceiling of ungeneralizable excess. This framework can be applied to the domains of consumption and production. Complementing existing research on consumption corridors, our aim is to conceptualize the idea of a production corridor. To develop this notion, we survey a range of helpful concepts starting with objective and universal human needs to establish a “floor” and planetary boundaries to establish a “ceiling.” We then assess in some detail a range of conceptual debates that pertain to production.

Niessen, L., Bocken, N. M. P., & Dijk, M. (2023). Sufficiency as trend or tradition: Uncovering business pathways to sufficiency through historical advertisements. Frontiers in Sustainability, 4, 1165682. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2023.1165682
Consumption, particularly in high-income communities, needs to be reduced and stabilized at sustainable levels. Businesses can play a key role as suppliers of goods and services and creators of demand. Some companies are rising to the challenge and promoting less consumption or “sufficiency” through long product lifetimes, repair services or rental offers, but they remain niche actors in the economic system. What can we learn from companies that currently promote sufficiency in their communications? A document analysis of historical advertisements shines light on the messaging to potential customers over time. It is combined with an analysis of contemporary communications to connect the companies’ past and present sufficiency approaches. 

Loeng, M., & Korsnes, M. (2023). Unravelling the Norwegian meat reduction controversy: Navigating contested sustainabilities and the role of meat. Consumption and Society, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1332/CXSI8930
Controversy surrounds research reports that promote reduced meat consumption in Norway. By studying these controversies in the media, we ask why meat reduction is polarised seemingly between environmental and agricultural, urban and rural voices. We show how a ‘conventional’ definition of meat reduction in a self-regulating market tends to disconnect consumption habits from agricultural policies. The result is a paradox: Norwegians are urged to eat less meat, but farmers must produce more to stay afloat.  We show how a different, more interactive understanding of consumption as interrelated with Norwegian food policies, production and distribution emerges, highlighting a path through the controversy. The article stresses that the two concepts of meat reduction are characterised by distinct notions of consumption, suggesting that the popular understanding of what consumption is can be a barrier to, or a part of, a meat-reduced future.

Randers, L., & Thøgersen, J. (2023). From attitude to identity? A field experiment on attitude activation, identity formation, and meat reduction. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 87, 101996. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.101996
The reciprocal relationship between a person’s identity and behaviour is well documented, but there is little research on the identity-formation process. We propose that self-perceptions generated from changed behaviour are not transformed into a new identity right away. However, identity-consistent behaviour increases the strength and positive valence of the attitude towards the behaviour. With repeated behaviour, this attitude becomes increasingly self-defining and therefore increasingly likely to be transformed into an identity. This hypothesis was tested in a longitudinal field experiment focusing on flexitarian and vegetarian identities, where participants (605 9th and 10th graders in Denmark) were randomly allocated to two different treatments, involving different combinations of a strong and a weak “nudge” to eat more vegetarian food. Attitudes fully mediated the impact of behaviour on flexitarian identity over the eight-week study. Hence, it appears that the self-perception process starts with attitude change before it leads to the adoption of a new identity. These findings provide new insights for the promotion of reduced meat-eating and other pro-environmental behaviours.

Soulis, M. (2023). Reconciling Sufficiency and Profitability in Fashion. Master of Science in Environmental Management and Policy, Lund University. https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/search/publication/9132926
A growing awareness of the impacts of fast fashion has led to the emergence of businesses that promote sufficiency. While research has explored the strategies they adopt and the challenges they face, understanding of their financial viability and relationship to profit remains scarce. Accordingly, this study aims to improve understanding of how business models for sufficiency(BMfS) operate, how they approach profit and growth, and whether they are financially sustainable. The project was designed as a multi-case study using qualitative methods. The results highlight the tensions and contradictions that sufficiency-oriented firms face between their sufficiency values and their financial objectives. Nevertheless, the project concludes that rather than being seen as incompatible, a balancing act between the two factors is needed. The findings also open opportunities for broader research on scaling up, transitioning businesses, and cross-sectoral BMfS.

Choopani, H., Wallaschkowski, S., & Iran, S. (2023). Determinants of a shift in consumer values towards minimalistic clothing consumption during global crises. Fashion, Style & Popular Culture. https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc_00209_1
The COVID-19 pandemic, as a global crisis, has affected the clothing consumption behaviour of consumers and it might create long-lasting changes in the fashion industry. Such behavioural shifts during global crises should be considered for sustainability-related marketing concepts and the way marketers promote sustainable clothing consumption during and after the crisis. This study explores the determinants of a shift in consumer values towards minimalistic clothing consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic in the under-researched country context of Iran. First, a literature review was conducted on topics including sustainable fashion consumption and the COVID-19 pandemic, the status of sustainable fashion consumption in Iran, as well as the influence of demographic characteristics on sustainable consumption behaviour. Second, a quantitative survey was administered to a sample of Iranian consumers . The results reveal a value shift towards more minimalism and sufficiency in clothing consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic in the country context of Iran.

Gossen, M., Tröger, J., Veneny, M., Eichhorn, H., & Bergener, J. (2023). Do people make sufficiency-oriented mobile phone choices based on dynamic norms? The perception and effectiveness of sufficiency-promoting messages in online media. Frontiers in Sustainability, 4, 1145243. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2023.1145243
Excessive consumption poses a significant threat to the environment. Therefore, overall consumption reduction is necessary. In the context of mobile phone choices, one way to promote sufficiency is by encouraging consumers to refrain from purchasing new devices and instead prolong the lifespan of their existing ones. As companies play a major role in shaping products and market conditions that influence consumption, they have a responsibility to support consumers in adopting sufficiency-oriented mobile phone use. We conducted an online experiment with two specific objectives: First, we examined whether messages emphasizing a dynamic norm have positive impacts on individuals’ intentions and behavioral choices regarding sufficiency-oriented mobile phone use. Second, we investigated consumers’ attributed motives for online media by comparing a search engine, as an unbiased source of information, with an online store driven by commercial interests.

Hipp, T. (2021). How do user practices and connected narratives of sense making affect product longevity? 4th PLATE 2021 Virtual Conference. https://hdl.handle.net/10344/10185
This study investigates how user practices and connected narratives of sense making affect product longevity by drawing on practice theory and the narrative paradigm. Empirical basis is provided by qualitative interviews with consumers about their use of electronic devices. By zooming in into the everyday life of consumers the six common narratives newism, functionality, sufficiency, quality, repair does not work, and planned obsolescence are described. The perspective on user narratives reveals that while consumers may act inconsistently overall, their practices may well make sense when viewed and understood as embedded in the social context and in relation to other narratives. The discussion explores how sustainable narratives which characterizes devices as valuable might promote life enhancing practices.

Tao, Y., Yang, L., Jaffe, S., Amini, F., Bergen, P., Hecht, B., & You, F. (2023). Climate mitigation potentials of teleworking are sensitive to changes in lifestyle and workplace rather than ICT usage. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(39), e2304099120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2304099120
The growth in remote and hybrid work catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic could have significant environmental implications. We assess the greenhouse gas emissions of this transition, considering factors including information and communication technology, commuting, noncommute travel, and office and residential energy use. We find that, in the United States, switching from working onsite to working from home can reduce up to 58% of work’s carbon footprint, and the impacts of IT usage are negligible, while office energy use and noncommute travel impacts are important.

Nawshin Rahman, M. (2023). Digital Sufficiency of Cloud Usage in Flexible Work. Master’s thesis, Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology. https://lutpub.lut.fi/handle/10024/166173
Although the cloud offers rapid and flexible working scope, it consumes energy and resource through the expanding data centers. Superfluous usage of cloud technology can be minimized through simple tactics towards rational cloud usage in daily professional life. This thesis aims to analyze the impacts of applying these tactics while using the cloud during flexible work. The methodology involves a questionnaire survey conducted among practitioners followed by experiments to measure energy or resource consumption of applying the tactics. Since this research emphasizes rationalizing the regular usage of cloud, it provides scope to decrease energy-related carbon emissions and thus, contributes to achieving environmental sustainability.