A survey and analysis on public awareness and performance for promoting circular economy in China: A case study from Tianjin

A Meta-Model of Inter-Organisational Cooperation for the Transition to a Circular Economy

“…As for customers' behaviour, studies show that customers are not willing to pay more for cleaner products and services [57,58]. The circular economy per se does not necessarily determine an increased cost to the final customer.…”

The Circular Economy: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Concept and Application in a Global Context

“…Greyson (2007) claims that Kenneth Boulding (1966) was the originator of the term when he wrote: "Man must find his place in a cyclical ecological system which is capable of continuous reproduction of material form even though it cannot escape having inputs of energy" (p. 7-8). Liu et al (2009) claim it was originally a Chinese concept. Yuan et al (2006) also claim the first use of a circular economy concept was in China and occurred in an unreferenced 1998 paper by Zhu, inspired by German and Swedish loop-closing, and arising from the Industrial Ecology paradigm which models industrial processes using the flow of material and energy through them.…”

“…The ultimate objective of this approach would be to achieve the decoupling of economic growth from natural resource depletion and environmental degradation (Liu, et al, 2009;Xue, et al, 2010). As such, the Circular Economy might be thought of as a general term covering all activities that reduce, reuse, and recycle materials in production, distribution and consumption processes (Cooper, 1999b).…”

Public Awareness and Performance Relating to the Implementation of a Low-Carbon Economy in China: A Case Study from Zhengzhou

“…Finding the balance between enhancing living standards through increased consumption, while at the same time reducing carbon emissions, is the fundamental challenge to the establishment of LCE in China. Barriers to successful implementation include the pressure to construct large infrastructure projects, in part to maintain competitive advantage in China, a continued heavy reliance on coal as a source of energy, inefficient energy production and distribution systems, and a continuous and increasing pressure to raise living standards in many parts of the country [6,8,9]. Other factors that are likely to hinder the roll out of LCE include the high cost of new technologies, low financial incentives in industries that remain competitive because of low salaries and a lack of inter and intra-sector collaboration.…”

“…A top-down approach has characterised policy-making and implementation in modern China to date, and is a legacy of central planning. Consequently both market-based solutions and public involvement are neither well-developed nor adequately integrated into development planning [9]. Moreover, an integrated bottom-up policy, combining the engagement of stakeholders with stringent enforcement of policies, is essential if the challenges of LCE implementation are to be met [9,10].…”