Sufficiency gains limited attention in Finnish climate policy on household consumption
Search for other papers by Essi Nuorivaara in
Current site
Google Scholar
The affluent lifestyles of the Global North are pushing the carrying capacity of the Earth to its limits. Despite technical improvements in energy efficiency and decarbonation, the carbon footprint of an average Finn continues to exceed the sustainable level. To critically assess both social and ecological aspects of overconsumption in households, sufficiency has gained attention in the research and policy fields. However, there is limited research into the ways in which sufficiency has been implemented in national climate policies guiding household energy consumption. In this article, I analyse the presence of sufficiency politics and policies in the Finnish Medium-term Climate Change Policy Plans of 2017 and 2022. The aim of the study was to find out whether the plans include references to deeper transformation of the socio-political and economic system towards sufficiency and in what ways the plans expect to steer or influence carbon-intensive household consumption in housing, mobility and nutrition. A close reading of the plans was conducted by utilising a modified version of the analytical framework created by Callmer and Bradley (2021). The findings show that sufficiency has not yet gained ground in Finnish climate policy. The sufficiency politics and policies found in the plans were not well-articulated and relied mostly on voluntary change. The macro-level conditions for and the potential macroeconomic impact of voluntary consumption reduction are largely ignored. This highlights the tendency of Finnish public policy to normalise unsustainable ways of consuming energy by disregarding the role of markets and economic growth in accelerating climate change.
-
Akenji, L., Bengtsson, M., Toivio, V., Lettenmeier, M., Fawcett, T., Parag, Y., et al (2021) 1.5-Degree Lifestyles: Towards A Fair Consumption Space for All, Berlin: Hot or Cool Institute.
-
Alexander, S. (2016) Policies for a Post-Growth Economy, Melbourne: Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute.
-
Bertoldi, P. (2022) Policies for energy conservation and sufficiency: review of existing policies and recommendations for new and effective policies in OECD countries, Energy and Buildings, 112075. doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2022.112075
-
Brummett, B. (2019) Techniques of Close Reading, Los Angeles: SAGE.
-
Burke, M.J. (2020) Energy-sufficiency for a just transition: a systematic review, Energies, 13(10): 2444. doi: 10.3390/en13102444
-
Callmer, A. and Bradley, K. (2021) In search of sufficiency politics: the case of Sweden, Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 17(1): 194–208. doi: 10.1080/15487733.2021.1926684
-
Creutzig, F., Roy, J., Lamb, W.F., Azevedo, I.M., Bruine de Bruin, W., Dalkmann, H., et al (2018) Towards demand-side solutions for mitigating climate change, Nature Climate Change, 8(4): 260–3.
-
Finnish Government (2019) Programme of Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Government 10 December 2019. Inclusive and competent Finland – a socially, economically and ecologically sustainable society, Publications of the Finnish Government 2019:33.
-
Fuchs, D., Sahakian, M., Gumbert, T., Di Giulio, A., Maniates, M., Lorek, S., et al (2021) Consumption Corridors: Living a Good Life Within Sustainable Limits, London and New York: Routledge.
-
Gough, I. (2017) Heat, Greed and Human Need: Climate Change, Capitalism and Sustainable Wellbeing, Cheltenham and Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.
-
Helliwell, J.F., Layard, R., Sachs, J.D., Aknin, L.B., De Neve, J.-E. and Wang, S. (eds) (2023) World Happiness Report 2023, 11th edn, Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
-
IGES (Institute for Global Environmental Strategies), Aalto University and D-mat ltd. (2019) 1.5-Degree Lifestyles: Targets and Options for Reducing Lifestyle Carbon Footprints, Hayama, Japan: Technical Report, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies.
-
IPCC (2022) Summary for policymakers, in P.R. Shukla, J. Skea, A. Reisinger, R. Slade, R. Fradera, M. Pathak, et al (eds) Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, pp 1–48.
-
Jungell-Michelsson, J. and Heikkurinen, P. (2022) Sufficiency: a systematic literature review, Ecological Economics, 195: 107380. doi: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107380
-
Keller, M., Halkier, B. and Wilska, T.A. (2016) Policy and governance for sustainable consumption at the crossroads of theories and concepts, Environmental Policy and Governance, 26(2): 75–88. doi: 10.1002/eet.1702
-
Lage, J. (2022) Sufficiency and transformation: a semi-systematic literature review of notions of social change in different concepts of sufficiency, Frontiers in Sustainability, 3: 954660. doi: 10.3389/frsus.2022.954660
-
Lage, J., Thema, J., Zell-Ziegler, C., Best, B., Cordroch, L. and 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.
-
Lindgren, O., Hahn, T., Karlsson, M. and Malmaeus, M. (2023) Exploring sufficiency in energy policy: Insights from Sweden, Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 19(1): 2212501. doi: 10.1080/15487733.2023.2212501
-
Linnanen, L., Nyfors, T., Heinonen, T., Liimatainen, H., Nissinen, A., Regina, K., et al (2020) The sufficiency perspective in climate policy: How to recompose consumption, The Finnish Climate Change Panel, Report 4/2020.
-
MCCPP (2017) Government report on Medium-term Climate Change Policy Plan for 2030: Towards climate-smart day-to-day living, Reports of the Ministry of the Environment 21en/2017. [The original Finnish version: ‘Valtioneuvoston selonteko keskipitkän aikavälin ilmastopolitiikan suunnitelmasta vuoteen 2030 – Kohti ilmastoviisasta arkea’, Ympäristöministeriön raportteja 21/201.]
-
MCCPP (2022) Medium-term Climate Change Policy Plan: Towards a carbon-neutral society in 2035, Publications of the Ministry of the Environment 2022:20. [The original Finnish version: ‘Keskipitkän aikavälin ilmastopolitiikan suunnitelma: Kohti hiilineutraalia yhteiskuntaa 2035’, Ympäristöministeriön julkaisuja 2022:12.]
-
Millward-Hopkins, J., Steinberger, J.K., Rao, N.D. and Oswald, Y. (2020) Providing decent living with minimum energy: A global scenario, Global Environmental Change, 65: 102168. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102168
-
Nissinen, A. and Savolainen, H. (2019) Carbon footprint and raw material requirement of public procurement and household consumption in Finland: results from the ENVIMAT-model, Report of the Finnish Environment Institute 15en/2019.
-
Nussbaum, M. (2002) Capabilities and social justice, International Studies Review, 4(2): 123–35. doi: 10.1111/1521-9488.00258
-
O’Neill, D.W., Fanning, A.L., Lamb, W.F. and Steinberger, J.K. (2018) A good life for all within planetary boundaries, Nature Sustainability, 1(2): 88–95. doi: 10.1038/s41893-018-0021-4
-
Official Statistics of Finland (2017) Dwellings and housing conditions, http://www.stat.fi/til/asas/2017/01/asas_2017_01_2018-10-10_kat_002_en.html.
-
Rockström, J., Steffen, W., Noone, K., Persson, A., Chapin, F.S., Lambin, E.F., et al (2009) A safe operating space for humanity, Nature, 461(7263): 472–5.
-
Sandberg, M. (2021) Sufficiency transitions: a review of consumption changes for environmental sustainability, Journal of Cleaner Production, 293: 126097. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126097
-
Spengler, L. (2016) Two types of ‘enough’: Sufficiency as minimum and maximum, Environmental Politics, 25(5): 921–40. doi: 10.1080/09644016.2016.1164355
-
Steffen, W., Richardson, K., Rockström, J., Cornell, S.E., Fetzer, I., Bennett, E.M., et al (2015) Planetary boundaries: guiding human development on a changing planet, Science, 347(6223): 1259855.
-
Strengers, Y. (2014) Smart energy in everyday life: Are you designing for resource man?, Interactions, 21(4): 24–31. doi: 10.1145/2621931
-
SYKE (Finnish Environment Institute) (2023) Tutkimusta ja kokeiluja kestävän kaupungistumisen edistämiseksi, https://www.syke.fi/fi-FI/Tutkimus__kehittaminen/Kaupungistuminen.
-
Tiikkaja, H. (2021) Transport Poverty and Travel Satisfaction in Finland, Licentiate Thesis, Tampere University.
-
Vogel, J., Steinberger, J.K., O’Neill, D.W., Lamb, W.F. and Krishnakumar, J. (2021) Socio-economic conditions for satisfying human needs at low energy use: an international analysis of social provisioning, Global Environmental Change, 69: 102287. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102287
-
VTT (Technical Research Centre of Finland) (2021) Hiilineutraali Suomi 2035 – ilmasto- ja energiapolitiikan toimet ja vaikutukset (HIISI), https://www.hiisi2035.fi/.
-
Watson, M., Pantzar, M. and Shove, E. (2012) The dynamics of social practice, in The Dynamics of Social Practice: Everyday Life and How it Changes, London: SAGE, pp 1–20.
-
Zell-Ziegler, C., Thema, J., Best, B., Wiese, F., Lage, J., Schmidt, A., et al (2021) Enough? The role of sufficiency in European energy and climate plans, Energy Policy, 157: 112483. doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112483
Search for other papers by Essi Nuorivaara in
Current site
Google Scholar
| May 2022 onwards | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 158 | 158 | 93 |
| Full Text Views | 11 | 11 | 6 |
| PDF Downloads | 15 | 15 | 10 |
Institutional librarians can find more information about free trials here
We are a leading social science publisher
committed to making a difference.
Bristol University Press and
Policy Press
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk