Energy sufficiency and recognition justice: a study of household consumption

The energy ‘crisis’ in Switzerland during the winter of 2022–23 highlighted the need to integrate the idea of sufficiency into previously efficiency-focused discourses and policies. A mixed-methods approach was used to explore emerging sufficiency practices and energy justice. Qualitative interviews (n = 28) with a diverse range of households and building management companies (‘régies’) in Geneva, as well as a quantitative online survey, were undertaken in 2023. It was found that different measures and recommendations did lead to efforts to reduce energy consumption, but also revealed flaws as practices typically lacked an energy justice perspective. Important discrepancies occurred between low- and high-income groups, tenants and owners, inhabitants of houses and apartments. These included a misrecognition of some residents’ vulnerabilities, their limited agency and a lack of acknowledgment of differentiated responsibilities. This led to a negative impact on the implementation of sufficiency. Some residents were marginalised: feeling anxious, disregarded, powerless, belittled and hence excluded from collective sufficiency efforts. Policy relevance Policies and strategies for the implementation of energy sufficiency measures will not be effective unless they include energy justice issues. If sufficiency policies and strategies are to be effective, they must account for differing housing, tenure, socio-economic conditions, capabilities and tackle recognition-based injustices. Decision-making spaces and processes need to become more inclusive, particularly to represent more vulnerable people, include a broader range of the socio-economic population and account for differing responsibilities.