Sufficiency in European Climate Policies, four country NECPs analysed

Abstract

Backgrounds Sufficiency, a concept acknowledged by the International Panel of Climate Change (IPCC), is often not included in climate-mitigation strategies. Its elements are, however, well known in different policy areas. Thus, there are good reasons to elevate sufficiency to a central element of national and international sustainability strategies. Methods This article, through the lens of the FULFILL project, aims to elucidate sufficiency and evaluate its integration into climate strategies via the National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) of four European countries: Denmark, France, Germany, and Italy. This shall offer insights into the current status of sufficiency policies and identify the best practices and areas for improvement. The analysis is based on the studies of sufficiency policies, identifying specific sufficiency measures. This leads to the development of a comprehensive overview and comparative analysis of how the four analysed countries incorporate sufficiency within their NECPs and to proposals for additional national sufficiency policies. The analysis focuses on policies that regulate social, infrastructural, and regulatory conditions that influence individual and collective behaviours. Results The article presents a clear and comprehensive analysis of the current tole of sufficiency policies in NECPs and their unused potential. Sufficiency policies are introduced in the countries analysed, but far from their potential to mitigate climate change. It also shows that existing sufficiency policies are primarily aiming at changing consumption and not to reduce consumption, such as reduced transport, reduced size of buildings. Another result is that some sufficiency policies are only introduced on local level by municipalities. Conclusion The conclusion is that some sufficiency policies are already integrated in national climate policies but their potentials are far from exhausted while other policies are hardly used, in particular policies to reduce consumption. This gives a large potential to increase sufficiency measures to strengthen climate policies and actions.