As this Thursday marks the official creation of a Swiss entity of the World Sufficiency Lab, we revisit the question of sufficiency with its cofounder and director, Yamina Saheb.
Founded in 2024, the "World Sufficiency Lab" (WSL) is a pioneering institution dedicated to the concept of sufficiency. Its mission is to provide policymakers with rigorous and scientifically grounded analyses on the major challenges of the 21st century, whether it be climate disruption, biodiversity loss, or social inequalities.
Convinced that technology and efficiency gains alone will not be enough to solve the current crises, the WSL places the principle of sufficiency at the heart of its action. "Our goal is to make sufficiency a structuring principle of public policies and governance systems on a global scale," reads the organization's website. This ambition is articulated in three main axes: to fill the research deficit on this topic; to federate a global community around sufficiency; and finally, to exert influence on the political sphere.
As this Thursday marks the official creation of a Swiss entity, we discuss it with Yamina Saheb, cofounder and director of the World Sufficiency Lab (alongside Samuel Grzybowski and David Ness) as well as co-president of the Swiss Laboratory of Sufficiency. Interview
Let’s briefly go back to the origins of this laboratory in 2024. What are they?
The laboratory was created in 2024 to fill the gaps identified during the drafting process of an IPCC report. Among these are notably an insufficient understanding of what sufficiency really is and how it can contribute to addressing the challenges of the 21st century. Another major gap lies in the absence of a structured space for dialogue — whether scientific, political, or civic — dedicated to sufficiency.
On what fronts does this laboratory intend to act concretely?
The laboratory offers a comprehensive pathway to fill several gaps, illustrated by these three examples:
Why create a Swiss entity of the World Sufficiency Lab?
Switzerland is an interesting case study. There are roughly a hundred NGOs and think tanks that incorporate, to varying degrees, sufficiency in their work and advocacy. However, none of these organizations has specialized exclusively in this theme and, when political trade-offs are made, sufficiency often tends to be overlooked.
At the municipal level, some — like the city of Zurich — have integrated sufficiency as a lever in their energy-climate plan. The same goes for the canton of Vaud. However, as long as sufficiency is not recognized as a lever at the federal level, these local initiatives, though encouraging, are unlikely to lead to implementation for lack of national coherence.
It should also be kept in mind that in Switzerland, sufficiency is mainly considered from an energy perspective. Yet scientific work shows that it covers all natural resources. In summary, there is an embryonic ecosystem around sufficiency in Switzerland, but it remains focused on energy and does not benefit from a federal anchoring. The Swiss Laboratory aims to introduce the broadest possible definition of sufficiency into public policy instruments at all levels of governance.
All the tools developed by the World Sufficiency Lab aim to build, with citizens, a project of living together adapted to a planet, sadly now overheating.
For several years, the enthusiasm born in Paris in 2015 has faded. Is this laboratory a way to rekindle the flame?
Sufficiency represents, in philosophy, a theory of justice and equity. As such, it has the potential to go beyond the momentum generated by the Paris Agreement, because it speaks to citizens and seeks to eliminate inequalities while improving collective well-being within planetary boundaries.
How can the meaning of scientific discourse be restored in the current context, where the world's leading power and its president no longer want to hear about it?
Scientists, while remaining rigorous, must come out of their ivory towers and reconnect the dialogue with citizens. That is precisely the ambition of the "Sufficiency 1st Consortium". They can help in the reappropriation of our citizenship that we have lost since the United States promoted and imposed the figure of the "sovereign consumer" across the planet.
How do you explain such a retreat of engagement, both political and public, on climate?
Politics is cyclical. We have entered a new cycle and it must be acknowledged that in Europe we have not sufficiently carried — nor as we should have — the ecological issues. Consequently, the efforts required appear even greater.
We must acknowledge our mistakes and organize accordingly. Again, the very idea behind the "Sufficiency 1st Consortium" is to prepare for the moment when a political cycle favorable to ecological issues will open again. And I am convinced that this moment is near. The ecological crisis is profound and its effects will eventually seriously affect us, including us, the spoiled children of wealthy countries.
Degrowth, sufficiency, economic slowdown: these terms, often perceived as unpopular, could they lose their taboo status?
I would first like to clarify an essential point: sufficiency cannot be equated with degrowth nor with the principle of economic slowdown. By definition, sufficiency aims to guarantee the well-being of all within planetary limits. Such an objective could not be achieved without a healthy economy, capable of prospering without destroying life.
All the tools developed by the World Sufficiency Lab aim to eliminate these misunderstandings and to build, with citizens, a project of living together adapted to a planet, sadly now overheating.
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