Different interpretations of sufficiency in climate-protection strategies: a typology based on 40 pioneering municipalities in Germany

Abstract

Sufficiency is a crucial strategy for achieving climate targets by reducing energy and resource consumption in absolute terms through changed practices. While most climate-protection concepts focus almost exclusively on the technological strategies of efficiency and consistency (e.g., renewable energies), sufficiency is being increasingly considered in public policy as a social-organizational strategy, especially at the municipal level. However, given the diverse facets of this theoretical concept, the interpretations of the character of sufficiency vary widely. Using examples from the 40 German Masterplan municipalities, our qualitative study examines these different interpretations of sufficiency in municipal climate-protection concepts. In this study we analyze the general meaning and relevance of sufficiency in the concepts mentioned, work out the central dimensions of sufficiency and use them to distinguish between the different concepts, and present a typology, which allows the basic distinction between four municipal sufficiency types: technophiles, privatizers, vision builders, and frameworkers. The results show that sufficiency is gaining importance for municipal climate protection and can contribute to alternative future visions. However, sufficiency remains mostly subordinated to technological solutions and is hardly woven into the specific sectoral strategies and concrete measures. Furthermore, the transformative trajectories are limited through depoliticized understandings of sufficiency in many cases. We therefore argue for a more political, cross-sectoral, and transformative interpretation of sufficiency as a guiding principle in public climate policy that links tangible framework conditions for sufficiency practices with visions for alternative futures.