“Eco-sufficiency: moving beyond the gospel of eco-efficiency”
European Economic and Social Committee
Jacques Delors Building (room JDE62)

Rue Belliard 99, 1040, Brussels
Monday 20th November 2017

The term 'eco-sufficiency' refers to a strategy to complement the eco-efficiency approach that so far has been the main focus of the sustainable development debate. At Friends of the Earth Europe we believe that there are limits to the green growth approach in keeping the world economy within the planetary boundaries. Because of the rebound effect, an increase in resource efficiency alone leads to nothing, unless it goes hand in hand with an intelligent restraint of economic growth and consumption. Between the extremes of excessive energy and resource use and material poverty lays eco-sufficiency, which is about using enough. Enough resources and energy for achieving human flourishing without compromising ecosystem stability.

To date the debate on eco-sufficiency has been mostly confined to the academic and grassroots level without a real engagement with decision-makers. We think that this conference can bridge this gap and stimulate a constructive debate on the limits of eco-efficiency. At the conference, experts in the field of sustainability will present their research and engage in panel discussions with various stakeholders.

Here below is the list of experts that will participate to the conference and the topics that will be discussed:

Anna Coote (head of social policy at the New Economics Foundation) >>> Work-time reduction
Sylvia Lorek (chair of SERI Deutschland) >>> Sustainable consumption
André Reichel (professor of Critical Management & Sustainable Development at the Karlshochschule International University) >>> Industrial strategies
Manu V. Mathai, professor at Azim Premji University in Bangalore (India) >>> Perspectives from the global South
Klára Hajdu, Senior Policy Officer at CEEweb >>> Resource capping
Blake Alcott, PhD in Ecological Economics and contributor to "Degrowth: A Vocabulary for a New Era" >>> Rebound effect
The conference will also be an opportunity for all the attendees to contribute ideas for advancing the policy agenda on eco-sufficiency at the EU level. This debate will be the starting point for elaborating policy proposals that will be included in FoEE's report on eco-sufficiency which is due for publication at the beginning of 2018.
Your participation would represent a very valuable contribution to this debate!
To register, follow this link: tiny.cc/sufficiency