Through sufficiency policy, state institutions can create suitable framework conditions so that citizens can meet their needs and at the same time help to comply with planetary impact limits. Due to its high ecological effectiveness, sufficiency policy is highly relevant for the Federal Environment Agency. This final report, 'More quality of life, less environmental consumption – Sufficiency policy workshop', contains both the presentation of the above-mentioned project and that of the predecessor project 'More quality of life, less environmental consumption – User-oriented development of sufficiency policy project outlines in the environment ministry'.
In the first sub-project (user-oriented development of sufficiency policy project outlines, 04/20 – 10/20), sufficiency policy project outlines were developed in close consultation with UBA specialist units. The project outlines were aligned as closely as possible to the needs of the specialist units by means of user-oriented methods. The project was based on the methodology of a policy workshop, which consisted of a total of five sub-modules: preliminary interviews to clarify the current situation in times of COVID-19; exploration lab to understand the initial situation, the field and the participants; internal synthesis workshop to collect, interpret and prioritize the impressions and information from the previous modules and to derive fictitious personas; innovation lab to develop ideas, prototypes and project outline prototypes; and reflection lab for mutual feedback. In addition, a Theory of Change was developed on the question 'How can the Federal Environment Agency promote sufficiency policy?' The presentation can be found in chapters 1–4.
This is followed by the report of the complement project 'More quality of life, less environmental consumption – Sufficiency policy workshop' in Chapters 5–11. In this second sub-project (Sufficiency Policy Workshop, 12/20 to 11/22), the outlined projects (in the form of Work Packages (WP) 1, 2 and 3) on various manifestations of sufficiency were implemented together with the participating specialist units, supported by agile project management (WP 0). In addition, a conference on the topic of growth independence was organized (WP 4). The implementation of work packages 1–4, which were regarded as independent sub-projects, served as a testing ground for examining the suitability of agile project management practices in their application in the Refoplan context, bundling the findings and communicating them to the Federal Environment Agency. In particular, the aim was to ensure an agile project process in which the focus was on short communication channels, a trusting feedback culture, goaloriented and flexible management, and regular spaces for mutual exchange. Furthermore, the project aims not only to create concrete case studies for the implementation of sufficiency policy in the work packages, but also to position the Federal Environment Agency as a strategic actor for sufficiency policy and an economy beyond economic growth in the long term.
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