Decoupling or ‘Decaffing’? The Underlying Conceptualization of Circular Economy in the European Union Monitoring Framework

Llorente-González, Leandro J.; Deza, Xavier Vence

doi:10.3390/su11184898

Cited by 26 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 24 publications

(76 reference statements)

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“…Secondly, as many of the case studies were in their initial phase at the time of data collection, with only a few months or years of trajectory, there is insufficient information on their degree of success in terms of the level of circularity achieved. This issue is further aggravated by the general lack of established metrics and targets [47] to gauge the impact of each CEBM on the different stakeholders. Thirdly, the sample of cases under study does not include any counterfactual case, i.e., a firm that did not adopt a CEBM, which could give further valuable insights on the barriers to circularity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Born or Grown: Enablers and Barriers to Circular Business in Europe

et al. 2021

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Circular economy goals have made their way towards the very heart of EU policy, promising the delivery of both economic and environmental goals, but key to their achievement is the active involvement and participation of businesses. Scholarly literature has made considerable headway in describing the diverse CE business model archetypes and the enablers and barriers that can nurture the transition toward them. However, little work has been done to assess a more profound distinction—that between enterprises that are born circular in contrast with incumbent businesses that grow into circularity. We review 18 case studies of businesses in Europe, which shed light on this distinction. A systematic analysis of their internal, contextual, and policy issues results in the identification of ten key enablers (including business targets, cost reduction potential, loyal customers, demographic aspects, growing waste flows, environmentalism, EU policy, circular policy, and dis/incentives as well as sectoral considerations) and ten key barriers (including bottom line concerns, problematic consumer preferences, lack of infrastructure, technological barriers, poor access to finance, competition, lack of EU harmonisation, uncertainty and lack of internalisation of externalities, and the presence of obstructive policy). We observe that businesses which are born circular seem to face fewer barriers than those seeking to grow into circularity, a finding which offers hope for the transition to a circular economy. Our analysis also suggests that while some enablers and barriers cut across different types of businesses, others tend to be more prevalent among enterprises of a certain size or sector.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Born or Grown: Enablers and Barriers to Circular Business in Europe

et al. 2021

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“…The circular economy is a productive paradigm that emphasizes the regenerative capacity of the ecosystem, minimising the consumption of non-renewable resources, prolonging the useful life of goods, and reusing all materials that enter the economic cycle, to minimize waste and emissions [37,[42][43][44][45][46][47]. According to Vence and Pereira [48] (p. 3), "the specific objective of the circular economy is to reduce the consumption of resources and energy and reduce waste through the perpetual return of resources within the economy.…”

Section: The Circular Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This great diversity of CE concepts can be organized into two major groups [46,50]. On the one hand are those that emphasize the long cycles of materials and molecules, focusing on the optimization of use, full recovery, and continuous reincorporation into the production cycle (what Stahel calls the "Era of D").…”

Section: The Circular Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

Taxation for a Circular Economy: New Instruments, Reforms, and Architectural Changes in the Fiscal System

Deza

Pérez

2021

Sustainability

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This article addresses fiscal policy as a key instrument for promoting the transition to a circular economy. It is based on the hypotheses that (1) the current tax system penalizes circular activities, which are generally labour intensive, as opposed to new product manufacturing activities, which are generally intensive in materials and energy, highly automated and robotized, and (2) that the environmental taxation implemented in recent decades is unable to introduce significant changes to stop climate change or keep the economy within planetary ecological limits. This article examines the basis of an alternative tax system and tax instruments for correcting the current linear economy bias and driving the transition to a circular economy. Proposals are developed for both structural and partial reforms of the fiscal system, focusing on tax measures that can be implemented in the medium or short term to boost a circular economy. More specifically, we suggest a complete redesign of the currently opaque and significant amount of tax expenditure to transform environmentally harmful tax benefits into environmentally friendly tax measures that are suitable for the circular economy.

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“…Another question concerning effective policy implementation is related with the unintended conflict amongst legislative instruments [38]. There is not yet, in fact, a consensus about the concept of circular economy [39], related strategies/options/alternatives [40], and methods for it to be properly assessed [41]. The policy dimension is one of the most important factors towards achieving levels of a circular economy [42], as well as, the governance dynamics and the respective adjustments [43].…”

Section: Policies Governance and Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Circular Economy and Economic Development in the European Union: A Review and Bibliometric Analysis

Martinho

Mourão

2020

Sustainability

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Increased changes in the climate and ecosystems call for a sustainable economic development, where economic growth should be compatible with the environment goals. In order to do this, it is urgent to find new ways of life and new production systems that make our ecological footprint compatible with global sustainability. The concept of the circular economy has brought relevant contributions to this problem. The central objective of the study presented here is to highlight the main insights presented through scientific literature about the concept of the circular economy within the European Union. In practice, the intention is to show what has already been done about this topic and what can/should be implemented in the future. To achieve these objectives, 144 articles were considered from the Web of Science (Core Collection) for the topics “circular economy” and “European Union”. These documents were, firstly, analysed through a proper literature review and later explored through bibliometric analysis, considering bibliographic data and the VOSviewer software. As the main findings have revealed, the increased importance of this concept within the European Union is recognized. However, this paper also identifies several challenges in the literature, namely the concentration of the identified publications in certain countries, organizations, and authors.

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Decoupling or ‘Decaffing’? The Underlying Conceptualization of Circular Economy in the European Union Monitoring Framework

Cited by 26 publications

References 24 publications

Born or Grown: Enablers and Barriers to Circular Business in Europe

Born or Grown: Enablers and Barriers to Circular Business in Europe

Taxation for a Circular Economy: New Instruments, Reforms, and Architectural Changes in the Fiscal System

Circular Economy and Economic Development in the European Union: A Review and Bibliometric Analysis

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