Perceived fairness and crisis awareness increase Finnish households’ tendency to accept even relatively hard sufficiency consumption policy measures #ScienceNews

Abstract

Sufficiency policies aim to decrease and avoid the demand for energy, materials, land and water. This research examines the acceptability of sufficiency consumption policies among Finnish households and how Finnish households experience sufficiency as a guiding principle specifically for sustainable energy consumption. The research questions are: (1) In what ways do the Finnish households find the proposed sufficiency policies acceptable? (2) How do the Finnish households justify their position towards the sufficiency policies? (3) How do the circumstances of households influence the acceptance of sufficiency measures? Qualitative semi-structured household interviews (n = 39) were conducted in 2023. Participants were asked to evaluate acceptability and feasibility of sufficiency policy measures. The results show that the principle of sufficiency was generally well-received by the households and the policies were generally found acceptable under certain conditions. Exceptions were the two hardest policies: higher income tax and restricting the size of living space. However, the acceptability of the different policy measures varied notably between individuals, which suggests that it would be important to tailor policies to different contexts and target groups.

Policy relevance

The central findings of this study are: (1) there are notable differences between individuals on what is considered acceptable and easy to comply with; (2) the level of freedom of choice is crucial for policy acceptance: new sufficiency policies should be designed to include voluntary aspects and the possibility to choose which measures to implement and how; and (3) crises awareness as well as perceived fairness increase the tendency to accept even relatively hard sufficiency policy measures.

Reseachers

Further information and interviews: Sanna Ahvenharju

PhD, M. Soc.Sc., Deputy Director Sanna Ahvenharju (sanna.ahvenharju@utu.fi) works at the Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC) as a Senior Research Fellow on projects related to futures consciousness and future thinking, as well as biodiversity protection, overconsumption and environmental policies. She has developed the five-dimensional concept of Futures Consciousness and the Futures Consciousness Scale together with her colleagues. In the BIODIFUL research project, Sanna in involved in work packages 3 Consumption and 5 Society.