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Abstract This article examines how sufficiency, an approach to sustainability focused on reducing resource consumption, can be communicated as a pathway to a good life rather than a call to sacrifice. Based on a representative survey in Germany, the findings show that although the term “sufficiency” is unfamiliar to many people, core values such as health, financial security, and social connection offer promising entry points for communication. We highlight how structural inequalities shape the feasibility of sufficiency. Individuals with care responsibilities often face time constraints that limit their capacity to adopt sufficiency practices, while many low-income groups already live within ecological limits, often involuntarily. Sufficiency policies can empower these individuals by improving access to services, mobility, and durable goods. This article advocates a constructivist, power-sensitive communication approach that links sufficiency to everyday needs, social justice, and enabling policy frameworks, reframing it not as an individual sacrifice but as a collective right and a foundation for more livable, equitable futures.

While transitioning to clean energy technologies offers countries economic advantages, the risk of “low carbon leakage” arises if production shifts to more favorable locations. We conducted a scenario analysis to examine potential shifts in production and trade patterns of clean energy technologies. Our novel empirical approach combines the global macroeconometric model GINFORS-E with a newly developed gravity trade model and integrates a socio-political analysis based on a Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) framework, innovatively augmented by quantifiable indicators. The MLP-analysis defines the expansion paths of clean energy technologies in an alternative scenario, allowing us to incorporate political and social dynamics into our analysis. The baseline scenario is based on announced pledges. For established technologies like photovoltaics, we observe minimal shifts in global trade shares as production capacities approach their limits, signaling market saturation. Conversely, emerging technologies like hydrogen electrolyzers display greater shifts, highlighting potential for market disruption and increased risk of low carbon leakage. While adopting clean technologies in individual countries lead to sector-specific changes, broader macroeconomic impacts appear constrained by existing market structures and path dependencies. Sensitivity analyses suggest that component-specific price changes influence trade and production. Expanding our approach to additional technologies and countries remains challenging due to data limitations.

The increasing use of energy from renewable sources (RE) for the generation of heat and electricity in Germany has also led to an increasingly intensive debate on its advantages and disadvantages. The discussion mostly centers on the cost effects, because beneficial effects often are harder to quantify. Benefits comprise indirect effects or effects which lie far in the future. Scientific studies also frequently focus on single aspects, which cannot be aggregated easily, because they occur in different sectors and comprise technology system-wide effects, distributional effects or overall macro-economic effects. This study intends to answer questions refering to clear definitions of effects when increasing renewable energy, methods of adding and balancing the effects, the choice of methodological approach, support mechanisms, suitable time span or spatial system border. After a brief sketch of the basic methods applied, the contribution will present estimates for a wide range of effects. It closes with suggestions on possibilities how to add and balance the effects.