Marion Bigoin
Author
Dear Madam President of the European Commission,
Imagine humanity sharing a single cellar of vital resources. Neoliberalism and overpopulation are depleting it, while those in charge profit from scarcity, selling, trading and accumulating power, ignoring calls for moderation. These leaders reject limits that threaten their benefits, remaining in denial about the looping catastrophe.
Similarly, climate change intensifies disasters, disrupts ecosystems, worsens life on Earth. Yet, we remain in denial, unable to act on a long-term threat that required proactive policies decades ago.
It is time to listen to those advocating for moderation; for sufficiency.
Sufficiency is both a set of policy measures and daily actions which avoid the demand for energy, materials, water, land and any other natural resources while delivering wellbeing for all within planetary boundaries (external link). It offers a safe space for future generations, breaking from growth-driven models to create prosperity centred on well-being (external link).
Yet, citizens struggle to make sufficiency choices due to structural barriers. That is why sufficiency has to become a systemic principle in the EU. It strengthens resilience, lowers costs, boosts competitiveness and helps achieve climate and energy targets while promoting equity and quality of life. Thus, complementing the EU Green Deal (external link).
Put simply, sufficiency is a matter of life and death. Because the future climate depends on choices we make today.
And without action, children born in 2020 won’t live longer enough to grow old (external link).
As a mother of a large family, you understand rigour and responsibility more than many. We urge you to step up for your European family. Because you hold responsibility for my future as much as your grandchildren’s. Because we have only a few years left to mitigate the impacts of climate change (external link).
This is not just a personal plea, but one backed by European citizens. Assemblies across ten European countries show 93% support for sufficiency measures (external link). French citizens ranked sufficiency as their top recommendation in the Convention on the Future of the EU (external link). Meanwhile, the IPCC reports a lack of measures to reduce demand (external link), and experts increasingly call for sufficiency strategies (external link).
Yet, leaders have kept sufficiency absent from EU policy.
Now, it is your role to plan and adapt accordingly. We urge you, Madam President, to create the first EU Sufficiency Strategy and Action Plan. The remaining time of your mandate offers a historic opportunity to place sufficiency at the centre of EU policy; leading to crucial changes in these troubled times.
We are all counting on you.