On behalf of the Organizing Committee, we are delighted to invite you to participate in the 1st International Summit on Sufficiency (ISS 2023), to be hosted in Adelaide, Australia, with a flexible hybrid operating. The Summit is scheduled as 16.30-19.30 (Adelaide, UTC + 09:30), May 4th, 2023. ISS 2023 will provide an effective platform for professionals, scientists, engineers, educators, students, and researchers worldwide to share and exchange their scientific ideas, views, innovations and experiences in the various areas of urban decarbonisation and low-carbon economies by improve the energy and resource sufficiency. The Summit features a dynamic program incorporating a range of academic, technical, and industrial related keynote speakers, and discussions. We warmly invite you or anyone interested in the area, to take part in this unique Summit to build up a network to mainstream the concept and grasp the emissions reduction potential needed to decarbonise our economies.

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The climate crisis is escalating as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions keep increasing. Climate impacts are now a daily reality of millions of citizens in several countries. The techno-optimism approach of climate policies around efficiency and the decarbonisation of energy supply failed in reducing GHG emissions. But there are some developments that may give us hope such as sufficiency policies. The 2022 IPCC report on climate mitigation defines sufficiency as a set of policy measures and daily practices that avoid the demand for energy, materials, land, water, and other natural resources while providing wellbeing for all within the planetary boundaries. By 2050, sufficiency has the potential to reduce emissions, compared to current policy scenarios, by more than 50% in almost each end-use sector. Yet, sufficiency policies are overlooked in climate policies and scenarios aiming at a 1.5°C temperature target by the end of the century. As of today, Thailand and France are the only two countries in the world to consider sufficiency. The former introduced to policy-making the Sufficiency Philosophy Economy in the nineties while the latter considers since 2015 energy sufficiency as one pillar to decarbonise the French economy.

This first sufficiency Summit is a follow-up to the introduction of the concept in the IPCC report. The aim is to make the concept known to a broader audience and to build a network of policy-makers, practitioners and scientists to mainstream the concept and grasp the emissions reduction potential needed to decarbonise our economies.