High with low: Harnessing the power of demand-side solutions for high wellbeing with low energy and material demand

M Sugiyama, C Wilson, D Wiedenhofer, B Boza-Kiss, T Cao, JS Chatterjee, S Chatterjee, T Hara, A Hayashi, Y Ju, V Krey, MF Godoy León, L Martinez, E Masanet, A Mastrucci, J Min, L Niamir, S Pelz, J Roy, Y Saheb, R Schaeffer, D Ürge-Vorsatz, B van Ruijven, Y Shimoda, E Verdolini, F Wiese, Y Yamaguchi, C Zell-Ziegler, C Zimm · Joule · 2024

The evidence base for demand-side solutions needs better models, better data and better policy analysis

We define demand-side solutions as policies, interventions and measures which modify demand for goods and services to reduce material and energy requirements and associated greenhouse gas emissions, while also contributing to other policy objectives including improved wellbeing and living standards. The Sixth Assessment Report of the IPCC included a dedicated chapter on demand-side measures for the first time, showing potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from end-use sectors by 40-70% by 2050 without compromising service levels and with improvements to wellbeing outcomes. Nevertheless, demand-side solutions remain underrepresented and underprioritised in research and policy, and we argue that a more comprehensive evidence base is urgently needed.

Such solutions enable the design of 'High with Low' scenarios, which promote high inclusive wellbeing with low energy and material demand. Lowering demand reduces the size of the biophysical economy, which can be more easily decarbonised with renewables and other granular low-carbon supply technologies, in turn reducing reliance on carbon dioxide removal on the order of 10 GtCO2 per year and the land competition between food and bioenergy that accompanies it. Low energy and material demand scenarios are explored in only a small number of studies, and models tend to lack sufficient resolution to analyse demand-side transformation: in the IPCC AR6 scenario database, energy services are reported more than four times less frequently than primary energy.

We identify three research priorities. A wider scope and greater variety of models and scenarios is needed, complementing integrated assessment models with sectoral, engineering and agent-based traditions and coupling them where useful. Better data on demand, services and wellbeing is needed to design and calibrate those models, drawing on national panel surveys of the kind now emerging in the Global South alongside long-standing efforts such as the United States Residential Energy Consumption Survey. And evidence should extend beyond government policy to societal action and new business models, including the digitalisation that IPCC scenarios have not explicitly addressed.

@article{sugiyama_high_2024,
	title = {High with low: {Harnessing} the power of demand-side solutions for high wellbeing with low energy and material demand},
	volume = {8},
	copyright = {All rights reserved},
	url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2023.12.014},
	doi = {10.1016/j.joule.2023.12.014},
	number = {1},
	journal = {Joule},
	author = {Sugiyama, Masahiro and Wilson, Charlie and Wiedenhofer, Dominik and Boza-Kiss, Benigna and Pelz, Setu and Zimm, Caroline},
	year = {2024},
	pages = {1--6},
}