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Principles for Sustainability: From Cooperation and Efficiency to Sufficiency

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  • Thomas Princen

Abstract

If analysts of political and ecological economy take seriously critical trends in environmental degradation and accept social responsibility for contributing to the reversal of such trends, they must go beyond the descriptive and predictive to the prescriptive, beyond marginal environmental improvement to sustainability, beyond cooperation and efficiency to sufficiency.Cooperation and efficiency principles are useful when biophysical underpinnings remain intact. Otherwise, sufficiency principles-restraint, precaution, polluter pays, zero, reverse onus-address the defining characteristics of current trends, namely environmental criticality, risk export, and responsibility evasion. They engage overconsumption. They compel decision-makers to ask when too much resource use or too little regeneration risks important values such as ecological integrity and social cohesion, when material gains now preclude material gains in the future, when consumer gratification or investor reward threatens economic security, when benefits internalized depend on costs externalized. Under sufficiency, one necessarily asks what are the risks, not just in the short term and for immediate beneficiaries, but in the longterm and for the under-represented. Copyright (c) 2003 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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  • Thomas Princen, 2003. "Principles for Sustainability: From Cooperation and Efficiency to Sufficiency," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 3(1), pages 33-50, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:glenvp:v:3:y:2003:i:1:p:33-50
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    Cited by:

    1. Cordroch, Luisa & Hilpert, Simon & Wiese, Frauke, 2022. "Why renewables and energy efficiency are not enough - the relevance of sufficiency in the heating sector for limiting global warming to 1.5 °C," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    2. Pushpa Arabindoo, 2020. "Renewable energy, sustainability paradox and the post-urban question," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(11), pages 2300-2320, August.
    3. Annukka Berg, 2011. "Not Roadmaps but Toolboxes: Analysing Pioneering National Programmes for Sustainable Consumption and Production," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 9-23, March.
    4. Sneddon, Chris & Howarth, Richard B. & Norgaard, Richard B., 2006. "Sustainable development in a post-Brundtland world," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 253-268, May.
    5. Ulf Schrader & John Thøgersen, 2011. "Putting Sustainable Consumption into Practice," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 3-8, March.
    6. Samadi, Sascha & Gröne, Marie-Christine & Schneidewind, Uwe & Luhmann, Hans-Jochen & Venjakob, Johannes & Best, Benjamin, 2017. "Sufficiency in energy scenario studies: Taking the potential benefits of lifestyle changes into account," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 126-134.
    7. Carmela Cucuzzella & Morteza Hazbei & Sherif Goubran, 2021. "Activating Data through Eco-Didactic Design in the Public Realm: Enabling Sustainable Development in Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-37, April.
    8. Matthew J. Burke, 2020. "Energy-Sufficiency for a Just Transition: A Systematic Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-14, May.
    9. Annu Markkula & Johanna Moisander, 2012. "Discursive Confusion over Sustainable Consumption: A Discursive Perspective on the Perplexity of Marketplace Knowledge," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 105-125, March.
    10. Boulanger Paul-Marie, 2010. "Basic Income and Sustainable Consumption Strategies," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 4(2), pages 1-11, September.
    11. Anne Marchand & Stuart Walker & Tim Cooper, 2010. "Beyond Abundance: Self-Interest Motives for Sustainable Consumption in Relation to Product Perception and Preferences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(5), pages 1-17, May.
    12. Hensher, Martin & Tisdell, John & Zimitat, Craig, 2017. "“Too much medicine”: Insights and explanations from economic theory and research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 77-84.
    13. Campos, Inês & Korsnes, Marius & Labanca, Nicola & Bertoldi, Paolo, 2024. "Can renewable energy prosumerism cater for sufficiency and inclusion?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    14. Martina Blašková & David Dlouhý & Rudolf Blaško, 2022. "Values, Competences and Sustainability in Public Security and IT Higher Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-18, September.
    15. Kate J. Neville & Glen Coulthard, 2019. "Transformative Water Relations: Indigenous Interventions in Global Political Economies," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 19(3), pages 1-15, August.
    16. Chris Foulds & Sarah Royston & Thomas Berker & Efi Nakopoulou & Zareen Pervez Bharucha & Rosie Robison & Simone Abram & Branko Ančić & Stathis Arapostathis & Gabriel Badescu & Richard Bull & Jed Cohen, 2022. "An agenda for future Social Sciences and Humanities research on energy efficiency: 100 priority research questions," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, December.
    17. Jungell-Michelsson, Jessica & Heikkurinen, Pasi, 2022. "Sufficiency: A systematic literature review," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    18. Pablo Torres-Lima & Luis Rodríguez-Sánchez, 2008. "Farming dynamics and social capital: A case study in the urban fringe of Mexico City," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 193-208, April.
    19. Yasuhiko Hotta & Tomohiro Tasaki & Ryu Koide, 2021. "Expansion of Policy Domain of Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP): Challenges and Opportunities for Policy Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-19, June.

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