Adapting a Circular Economy in Regional Strategies of the European Union

Abstract

The transition towards a sustainable circular economy (CE) model is seen as a solution to keep the consumption of the earth’s resources within planetary boundaries. In the regional context, the CE is promoted through various policy actions, one being the smart specialisation concept. This paper provides a novel approach to examining the spatial adaption of a CE through a conceptual framework of research and innovation strategies for smart specialisation (S3) in Europe. This interdisciplinary research presents a multi-country comparison of S3 implementation in Europe in 12 regions that have defined the CE as a priority area. The data consist of interviews with representatives of organisations responsible for the regional S3 process. The findings indicate that a political demand exists for proceeding further with the construction of transformative activities involving the CE, but the models and stages of implementation vary. In addition, most regions still struggle with building specific monitoring and evaluation measures and mechanisms for the CE. Despite these challenges, promoting the CE as a strategic priority through the S3 process has, at least in some regions, helped define the CE targets and actions by focusing on existing regional assets and future potential.

How Far Away Are World Economies from Circularity: Assessing the Capacity of Circular Economy Policy Packages in the Operation of Raw Materials and Industrial Wastes

“…It presents a deep analysis for three regions such as Finland as one of the leaders of the integration of CE policy due to many articles and statistical data; the whole EU-as the closest to the gold standard [32] and an active initiator in the policy transformation [42]; and Russia as a big industrial country. The CE policies of the remaining countries-China, Greece, France, the Netherlands and South Korea-are carefully described in the research [29] and other sources [14- 16,[32][33][34][35]42]. Thus, this study presents the calculated results of the degree levels of capacity of circular economy regulatory policy packages in the operation of raw materials and industrial wastes for the rest of the countries of the sample.…”

“…Nowadays, that there is a big buzz around the concept of the circular economy (CE). The growing quantity of the studies include different discourses, such as the concept of CE and main principles [23,28]; the regulatory policy packages [29] and their optimality [30,31], strategies [32][33][34] and some practical applications, including policy instruments, flows of resources and materials, and technological innovations [35,36]; even how to teach CE concepts [28], etc. It is argued that the CE cannot be achieved by utilizing isolated measures.…”

Review and selection of recycling technology for lithium-ion batteries made for EV application - A life cycle perspective

“…Circular economy emphasizes the continual use of resources by eliminating wastes. Waste generation from any engineering process helps to measure its sustainability [24][25][26][27]. It includes all the materials discarded into the landfills while carrying on the recycling technology.…”

Core Elements Towards Circularity: Evidence From the European Countries

“…The first type -waste management is examined by different authors according to the types of the policy package. It is particularly important that packagers are aligned with strategic ones economic and industrial policy, as the industrial waste sector is one of those who dictate change from linearity to circularity [61,62].…”