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The Circular Economy – A new sustainability paradigm?

The circular economy concept has gained momentum both among scholars and practitioners. However, critics claim that it means many different things to different people. This paper provides further evidence for these critics. The aim of this paper is to create transparency regarding the current understandings of the circular economy concept. For this purpose, we have gathered 114 circular economy definitions which were coded on 17 dimensions. Our findings indicate that the circular economy is most frequently depicted as a combination of reduce, reuse and recycle activities, whereas it is oftentimes not highlighted that CE necessitates a systemic shift. We further find that the definitions show few explicit linkages of the circular economy concept to sustainable development. The main aim of the circular economy is considered to be economic prosperity, followed by environmental quality; its impact on social equity and future generations is barely mentioned. Furthermore, neither business models nor consumers are frequently outlined as enablers of the circular economy. We critically discuss the various circular economy conceptualizations throughout this paper. Overall, we hope to contribute via this study towards the coherence of the circular economy concept; we presume that significantly varying circular economy definitions may eventually result in the collapse of the concept.

Conceptualizing the circular economy: An analysis of 114 definitions

/pdf/conceptualizing-the-circular-economy-an-analysis-of-114-2rugwffyzw.pdf

Conceptualizing the Circular Economy: An Analysis of 114 Definitions

Barriers to the Circular Economy : Evidence From the European Union (EU)

Over the last decade, the concept of the circular economy has regained attention, especially related to efforts to achieve a more sustainable society. The ‘revival’ of the circular economy has been accompanied by controversies and confusions across different actors in science and practice. With this article we attempt at contributing to advanced clarity in the field and providing a heuristic that is useful in practice. Initially, we take a focus on the historical development of the concept of circular economy and value retention options (ROs) for products and materials aiming for increased circularity. We propose to distinguish three phases in the evolution of the circular economy and argue that the concept – in its dominant framing – is not as new as frequently claimed. Having established this background knowledge, we give insights into ‘how far we are’ globally, with respect to the implementation of circularity, arguing that high levels of circularity have already been reached in different parts of the globe with regard to longer loop value retention options, such as energy recovery and recycling. Subsequently, we show that the confusion surrounding the circular economy is more far reaching. We summarize the divergent perspectives on retention options and unite the most common views a 10R typology. From our analyses, we conclude that policymakers and businesses should focus their efforts on realization of the more desirable, shorter loop retention options, like remanufacturing, refurbishing and repurposing – yet with a view on feasibility and overall system effects. Scholars, on the other hand, should assist the parties contributing to an increased circular economy in practice by taking up a more active role in attaining consensus in conceptualizing the circular economy.

The circular economy: New or Refurbished as CE 3.0? — Exploring Controversies in the Conceptualization of the Circular Economy through a Focus on History and Resource Value Retention Options

A review on circular economy: the expected transition to a balanced interplay of environmental and economic systems

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the emissions of CO2 in Italy during 1861 to 2002. The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) is applied to explore the relationship between CO2 emission and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. An Index Decomposition Analysis (IDA) is also applied to investigate changes in emissions between 1990 to 2002. Several factors contribute to change in the emission of CO2. These factors generally include a scale effect, a technological effect and a composition effect.Design/methodology/approach – The main discussion in the paper is about the exiting of EKC in Italy and how a decomposition analysis can be used to look behind the time series of the environmental accounts.Findings – The findings in the paper indicate the typical inverted “U” form of EKC is not confirmed with our data set for Italy. According our econometric results, there is a positive relationship between economic growth and CO2; following the trend, the maximum emission of CO2 per capita in Italy wo...

Economic growth and environmental quality: An econometric and a decomposition analysis

Household and industrial electricity demand in Europe

https://hal-cea.archives-ouvertes.fr/cea-01310230/document

Analysis of system improvements in solar thermal and air source heat pump combisystems

This paper examines the relationships among per capita CO2 emissions, per capita GDP and international trade based on panel data spanning the period 1960–2008 for 150 countries. A distinction is also made between OECD and non-OECD countries to capture the differences of this relationship between developed and developing economies. We apply panel unit root and cointegration tests and estimate a panel error correction model. The results from the error correction model suggest that there are long-term relationships between the variables for the whole sample and for non-OECD countries. Finally, Granger causality tests show that there is bidirectional short-term causality between per capita GDP and international trade for the whole sample and between per capita GDP and CO2 emissions for OECD countries.

/pdf/co2-emissions-gdp-and-trade-a-panel-cointegration-approach-3stexw95a1.pdf

Catia Cialani

Papers

A review on circular economy: the expected transition to a balanced interplay of environmental and economic systems

Economic growth and environmental quality: An econometric and a decomposition analysis

Household and industrial electricity demand in Europe

Analysis of system improvements in solar thermal and air source heat pump combisystems

CO2 emissions, GDP and trade: a panel cointegration approach