Life Cycle Talks: If less is more – how you keeping score? Introducing Sufficiency-LCA
Join us for the next Life Cycle Talks with Hampus André, researcher at the Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology. In his upcoming talk, Hampus will talk about the idea, theory and practice of broadening the scope of LCA, to enable the assessment of sufficiency, understood as “living well with less”, as opposed to the predominant focus on efficiency (reducing impact per level of function or consumption).
Tell us a bit about your work and what you focus on!
“My research focuses on developing Sufficiency-LCA, an extension of life cycle assessment that enables the evaluation of sufficiency, which can be understood as ‘living well with less’. The approach broadens the concept of functionality by integrating experiential outcomes of sufficiency-oriented consumption, such as satisfaction and well-being, alongside environmental impacts.
This makes it possible to identify which sufficiency measures offer large environmental benefits with little negative – or even positive – effects on experienced outcomes, and which involve more significant trade-offs.
In a recent case study at remote mountain stations operated by the Swedish Tourist Association (STF), we found that some sufficiency measures could yield substantial environmental benefits without clear losses in satisfaction. At the same time, other changes involved more pronounced trade-offs, highlighting the importance of identifying where sufficiency is most promising”.
What inspired you to bring a life cycle perspective into your work?
“I was drawn to LCA during my doctoral studies because it provides a structured and robust way of understanding the environmental impacts of consumption and assessing potential improvements. At the same time, I felt that an important piece was missing: while LCA is very good at assessing efficiency improvements, it is less equipped to address the question of ‘how much is enough’. This gap – and the growing recognition that sustainability also requires sufficiency – motivated me to develop this new LCA approach”.
What kind of impact do you hope your work will have?
“The overarching goal is to extend LCA beyond its traditional focus on efficiency – reducing impacts per unit of functionality – to also capture sufficiency, i.e. reducing impact through questioning and potentially reducing the level of functionality offered or demanded. In doing so, LCA becomes better equipped to assess both of the complementary strategies required for sustainability. In practice, it could help policymakers, organizations, and individuals prioritize actions that are both environmentally effective and experientially acceptable, and avoid those that have limited impact or unintended negative consequences”.
And finally, why do you think a life cycle perspective matters today?
“The life cycle perspective is essential because it provides a systems-based understanding of environmental impacts, identifies hotspots, and avoids problem-shifting. At the same time, I believe its role can be strengthened by expanding what we mean by ‘functionality’. In conventional LCA, increased functionality is implicitly treated as beneficial, since it reduces impacts per unit of function. This reflects an underlying assumption that more is always better – an assumption that is not always supported by empirical research on how people experience consumption. By combining environmental impacts with insights into how people experience consumption, the life cycle perspective can move beyond this assumption and become more relevant for guiding transitions toward both efficient and sufficient ways of living”.
Life Cycle Talks with Hampus André
The talk takes place on 15 June 2026, 13:00-13:30 CEST, online via Zoom.
Title: If less is more – how you keeping score? Introducing Sufficiency-LCA
About Life Cycle Talks
Life Cycle Talks is a series of talks presenting the research front to keep you up to date with the science and application of the life cycle perspective.
