Sufficiency Hub

About the GlobalABC Sufficiency Hub

The GlobalABC Sufficiency Hub endeavours to highlight the pivotal role of sufficiency in significantly reducing carbon emissions in the buildings sector. Its mission includes sharing best practices and formulating actionable recommendations. Merely focusing on efficiency techniques, metrics, and data to meet our 2030/2050 targets for decarbonisation is insufficient. There is a significant risk of the rebound effect. Therefore, integrating sufficiency measures is essential to maximize the effectiveness of other strategies and prevent rebound effects, thereby accelerating emissions reduction as needed.

Sufficiency, particularly concerning energy, has become a key aspect of France's decarbonisation agenda. While the buildings sector responded to the French Government's call to contribute to the national sufficiency strategy in 2022, this topic was previously overlooked in international collaboration. However, sufficiency has now gained prominence in transition scenarios outlined by influential bodies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Energy Agency. Given that buildings contribute to 37% of global energy and process-related emissions, sufficiency measures are indispensable to achieving the Paris Agreement goals of halving sector emissions by 2030.

In pursuit of international cooperation, the Sufficiency Action Group was established by IFPEB within the GlobalABC. This collaborative effort brings together professionals from diverse backgrounds within the buildings industry. The Action Group aims to foster a shared understanding of sufficiency and underscore, through the exchange of experiences, the necessity, feasibility, and desirability of sufficiency solutions. These solutions aim to reduce the demand for energy, materials, land, and water while prioritizing the well-being of all individuals within the constraints of our planet's limits.

Data Hub co-leads and members

Co-leads:

Members:
  • Action for Market Transformation - A4MT
  • ADEME - French Agency for Ecological Transition
  • AECOM
  • ADHI Africa Holding Limited
  • Association Libanaise pour la Maîtrise de l'Energie et pour l'Environnement (ALMEE)
  • BioBuild Africa
  • Botswana Green Building Council
  • BPAC
  • Center for Carbon Neutral Technology and Strategy of Beijing Jiaotong University
  • Center for Worldwide Sustainable Construction (CWSC) - EPFL University
  • Chile Green Building Council (Chile GBC)
  • Climate Chance
  • Climate-KIC
  • Columbia University
  • Consejo Colombiano de Construccion Sostenible (CCCS)
  • Copper Alliance
  • Econoler
  • ENERGIES 2050
  • European Solar Shading Organisation (ES-SO)
  • Gensler
  • German Energy Agency (dena)
  • Green Building Consulting & Engineering
  • French Institute for Building Performance (IFPEB)
  • International Energy Agency (IEA)
  • Johnson Controls
  • Lalitpur Sub-Mediterraneean City
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  • MACOMA Environmental Technologies
  • Ministry of Ecological Transition, France
  • OIB
  • Polytechnic University of Milan (Politecnico di Milano)
  • Rockwool
  • Schneider Electric
  • Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), Mexico
  • SETA Network
  • Tunisia Green Building Council (Tunisia GBC)
  • UCDV
  • UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre
  • United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
  • United Nation University - Flores (UNU-FLORES)
  • University College London (UCL)
  • University of New South Wales (UNSW)
  • World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
  • World Resources Institute (WRI) India
  • World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
  • Wuppertal Institut

Activities

The hub aims at recognizing, at a global level, sufficiency as a necessary decarbonization lever - and above all - as a lever to keep the sector within the 9 planetary boundaries – if considered first and well-combined to efficiency and green-sourced energy and materials. 

The main flagship product titled Sufficiency and the Built Environment: Reducing Demand for Land, Floor Area, Materials and Energy is the first step towards sustainable buildings aimed at: 

  • Demonstrating the need for sufficiency in the built environment
  • Discussing how Sufficiency applies to the built environment
  • Clarifying what sufficiency is and what it is not, and
  • Raising awareness on Sufficiency measures through a series of recommendations that can help the sector meet climate mitigation goals while ensuring access to well-being for all.

2024-2025 Priorities 

  • Monthly workshops
  • Publication of the first flagship Product
  • Assessment of Year 1 Activities
  • Launch of Action Group Year 2 program

Publications

The GlobalABC “Sufficiency and the Built Environment” Report will be launched before the end of 2024.  

Contact and how to join

To apply for membership in the Sufficiency Hub, please contact the GlobalABC Secretariat at [email protected]. We welcome active contributors who can bring valuable insights to the community. To help us understand your potential role, please provide the following information in your application:

  • Interest in sufficiency: What motivates your interest in sufficiency, and why do you wish to join the Sufficiency Hub?
    Work beyond the built environment: Do you engage with sufficiency practices outside the built environment? If so, please describe how.
  • Expertise in the built environment: What level of expertise do you bring in relation to sufficiency within the built environment?
  • Geographical focus: In which region(s) of the world is your expertise most relevant?
  • Contact information: Please include contact details for follow-up within your organization.