Opinion | The concept of setting sustainable limits on consumption faces a political challenge as it begins to influence policy.
There is growing evidence that citizens are capable of grappling seriously with environmental limits when given the opportunity. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has documented hundreds of citizens’ assemblies on climate worldwide. Analyses of such processes show that participants frequently endorse sufficiency-oriented measures, particularly in sectors like transportation. For example, a national citizens’ climate convention in France came up with a creative solution by proposing limits on domestic flights where less-polluting rail alternatives existed. Deliberation does not eliminate disagreement, nor does it guarantee ambitious outcomes. But it makes trade-offs visible and contestable. It shifts sustainability from a project of compliance to one of collective self-rule. In this sense, sufficiency is not only an environmental proposal but a democratic test. Sufficiency is often framed as a call to live with less. In reality, it is a demand to decide together what we truly need to live well on a finite planet — which, for some, in fact means living with more. Technology and economic modeling can help us understand what is physically possible, but they cannot tell us what is socially acceptable or morally just. Those judgments belong in the public realm.
21 January 2026