Efficiency, sufficiency and consistency in sustainable development: Reassessing strategies for reaching overarching goals
本文通过图形分类法区分效率、充足和一致性三种策略对环境与人类需求满足的不同影响，指出长期来看一致性策略作为系统性变革更具潜力，对研究能源转型和循环经济的学者有参考价值。
Humanity faces a dilemma: The satisfaction of human needs gravely endangers the natural basis of life. As potential strategies for resolving this dilemma, we revisit the discourse on efficiency, sufficiency and consistency. Although there has been much discussion about the three strategies in recent decades, there is a lack of a clear distinction between the strategies and little understanding regarding their respective impact on both the environment and human needs satisfaction. This leads to persistent disagreement about which strategies are best suited to pursue in the short, medium and long term. In this article, we resolve this problem on a conceptual level through a graphical classification of the three strategies according to their effects on consumption levels and environmental impact. This framework contributes to the literature on energy transition and the circular economy as key paths to sustainability by showing the limited effects of efficiency and sufficiency strategies over the long run in contrast to the promise of the consistency strategy as a systemic change.