Efficiency plays a primary role in the narrative around sustainable development. For example, Goal 12 of the United Nations 2030 Agenda, entitled “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns,” understands sustainable consumption and production as “promoting resource and energy efficiency,” or “doing more and better with less,” increasing “the welfare benefits derived from economic activities by reducing resource use, degradation, and pollution throughout the production cycle, thereby improving quality of life.” This is a significant and ambitious aim, especially considering that almost one billion people worldwide are undernourished and another billion suffer from hunger. At the same time, however, two billion individuals are overweight or obese, while 1.3 billion metric tons of food are wasted every year.
Turning to energy, an International Energy Agency (IEA) analysis published this year estimates that around 775 million people live without electricity, concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, an increase of 20 million over last year. At the same time, more than 99% of people in the United States and Europe live in areas with severe light pollution. Combining these numbers with the historical evolution of global energy consumption, which more than doubled between 1973 and 2018, according to IEA data, and of Earth Overshoot Day—the day when humanity’s ecological footprint exceeds the Earth’s annual biocapacity—which moved from December 1 in 1973 to July 28 in 2022, shows that the pursuit of efficiency is not delivering the hoped-for results in practice, despite serving as a reference point for government, economic, environmental, and social policies.
From efficiency to sufficiency
As early as 1865, English economist William Stanley Jevons observed that, as coal-powered steam engines became more efficient, consumption of this fossil fuel continued to rise rather than fall. Material and financial resources saved through efficiency tend to be reallocated, reducing or canceling out the benefits. Thus, although more and more can be achieved with less energy, total energy consumption continues to increase. It is no coincidence that the sixth report of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) refers to a principle other than efficiency: sufficiency, defined as a “set of measures and daily practices that avoid demand for energy, materials, land, and water while ensuring well-being for all people within planetary limits.”
In particular, the fifth chapter (“Demand, services and social aspects of mitigation”) presents a series of measures focused on demand for goods and services—and consequently energy and consumption—divided into three types for reducing emissions: avoid, meaning consuming less of something; shift, meaning replacing one type of consumption with another; and improve, meaning making existing consumption more sustainable. Key actions to reduce demand for resources and energy include reducing air travel and car use in favor of public transportation and active mobility, choosing vegetarian or vegan diets that favor locally produced food, or choosing meat associated with lower greenhouse gas emissions. Solutions to improve existing consumption patterns are also suggested, such as switching to electric cars and renewable electricity, renovating buildings, and using heat pumps.
The report nevertheless emphasizes that, to be effective, these actions must involve “individuals (e.g., consumption choices), culture (e.g., social norms and values), companies (e.g., investment), institutions (e.g., government policies), and infrastructural changes.” These five factors can “help create an economy oriented toward equity, well-being, and services with low carbon emissions and low energy demand.”
The principle of sufficiency can therefore support efficiency in generating profound societal transformations, but it needs to be explored further and supported by policymakers. The final section of “The Limits to Growth,” published in 1972, states that “as soon as a society recognizes that it cannot maximize everything for everyone, it must begin to make choices.” These words remain relevant today and demonstrate the urgency of action.
Authors
Edoardo Chiesa
Senior Consultant – Energy, Sustainability and Impact