Policies for sufficiency: factors influencing acceptance in the Swiss population

Adopting strategies for sufficiency is crucial to meeting climate and sustainability objectives. However, this requires a societal shift which depends on favorable framework conditions pertaining to infrastructure, incentives, regulations, and social and cultural values. Sufficiency policies are essential for influencing and creating such conditions and acceptance by the affected population are important. This article presents two related studies that investigated the acceptance levels of policies supporting sufficiency among the Swiss population and the factors influencing this acceptance. The first study involved a quantitative survey of 834 individuals to assess acceptance of ten policy measures at national and communal levels. The second study entailed interviews with 15 individuals with the same sociodemographic criteria as a critical subgroup identified in the quantitative survey, namely respondents with little environmental affinity, with a low or medium level of education, and from rural or semi-urban areas, and considered on an in-depth basis three of the ten policy measures: the real price of meat, the potential of reduced working hours, and the ban on fossil-fuel powered cars. We further discussed the obstacles and drivers associated with each of these measures with seven experts from relevant fields, leading to recommendations on increasing their acceptance. The findings show that sufficiency policy can gain public support if implemented equitably and seen as effective by the population. When implementing such measures, it is essential to consider fairness and evaluate compensation strategies. Avoiding consideration of sufficiency measures is not advisable and it is crucial to build on existing favorable assessments and counter misleading perceptions with specific arguments and positive framings.