The poly-crisis has arrived in society: wars, inflation, a rightward political shift, deepening social inequalities and – though often overlooked – the escalating ecological crises such as climate change and biodiversity loss. Against this backdrop, Vivian Frick and Julia Fülling argue that technological innovation alone cannot adequately address today’s challenges. Their contribution calls for placing sufficiency back at the center of sustainability policy debates.

The authors show that sufficiency means far more than individual restraint. Rather, it raises the question of how to create societal conditions that enable a good life within ecological limits. While political strategies have so far focused primarily on efficiency gains and technical solutions, approaches aimed at reducing resource and energy consumption remain marginal, even though they are indispensable for staying within planetary boundaries.

The article positions sufficiency as a core element of a socio-ecological transformation and discusses why corresponding measures often encounter political resistance or receive little public attention. At the same time, the authors make clear that sufficiency can offer important responses not only to ecological crises but also to questions of social justice. They advocate moving beyond framing sufficiency as a debate about sacrifice, instead presenting it as a foundation for greater quality of life, resilience, and long-term viability.

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