1st Edition
Circular Economy Realities Critical Perspectives on Sustainability
This book addresses the realities of the circular economy, a resource efficiency concept that has risen to global prominence in academic, policy and business circles over the last decade. Considered an approach to sustainable growth, the volume critically analyses how sustainable emerging applications of a circular economy are in practice.
The book stems from an international, interdisciplinary project exploring the discourses, policies, implementation, and impacts of the circular economy across public, private and third sector accounts. It draws on a wide range of case studies, from the UK, Portugal, Austria, Italy, Netherlands, France, Chile, China, Nigeria, Taiwan and Vietnam, highlighting how experiences both shaped and were shaped by the places in which they were happening. It provides a guide to researching a complex phenomenon such as a circular economy, which involves both collaboration and competition between multiple stakeholders across different sectors and places. Synthesising the multiple perspectives employed in the project, the book makes recommendations for circular economy implementation in different contexts, including the assessment of sustainability implications, whilst indicating the limited potential for circular economy activity to bring social and economic benefits without explicit motivation for those to happen.
Benefitting from extensive empirical research, this critical assessment of sustainability in the context of the circular economy will appeal to a broad readership of academics, upper-level students, practitioners and policy-makers in sustainable development, business, economics, geography, sociology and environmental engineering.
1. Introduction: Exploring the sustainability implications of a circular economy
Pauline Deutz, Walter J.V. Vermeulen, Rupert J. Baumgartner, Tomás B. Ramos, Andrea Raggi
2. Approaches to circular economy research
Pauline Deutz, Sandra Caeiro, Erik Roos Lindgreen, Kaustubh Thapa, Anna M. Walker, Małgorzata Pusz
3. Navigating diverse understandings of a circular economy
Walter J.V. Vermeulen, Martin Calisto Friant, Kieran Campbell-Johnston, Natacha Klein
4. Exploring the role of companies in transitioning to a sustainable and circular future: Insights and reflections
Rupert J. Baumgartner, Pauline Deutz, Estephania Delgadillo, Anna Diaz, Aodhan Newsholme, Erik Roos Lindgreen, Tomas Santa-Maria, Anna M. Walker, Tatiana Reyes
5. Assessment approaches and methods for a circular economy
Andrea Raggi, Hinrika Droege, Katelin Opferkuch, Erik Roos Lindgreen, Anna M. Walker, Sandra Caeiro, Tomás B. Ramos, Roberta Salomone
6. Socio-spatial dimensions of a circular economy
Pauline Deutz, Andrew E.G. Jonas, Sabrina Brullot, Martin Calisto Friant, Małgorzata Pusz, Aodhan Newsholme, Santiago Perez, Heather A. Rogers, Kaustubh Thapa
7. Emerging indications of employment in a circular economy: A synthesis of European case studies
Pauline Deutz, Heather A. Rogers, Anna Diaz, Natacha Klein, Katelin Opferkuch, Aodhan Newsholme, Andrew E.G. Jonas and Tomás B. Ramos
8. Policy recommendations for a circular economy
Walter J.V. Vermeulen, Martin Calisto Friant, Kieran Campbell-Johnston, Pauline Deutz, Aodhan Newsholme, Małgorzata Pusz, Natacha Klein, Tomás Ramos, Anna Diaz Tena, Kaustubh Thapa
9. Conclusions: Emerging understandings of circular economy realities
Pauline Deutz, Walter J.V. Vermeulen, Rupert J. Baumgartner, Tomás B. Ramos, Andrea Raggi
Biography
Pauline Deutz is Professor of Circular Economy and Sustainability in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Hull, UK.
Walter J.V. Vermeulen is Associate Professor in the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University, the Netherlands.
Rupert J. Baumgartner is Professor of Sustainability Management in the Department of Environmental Systems Sciences at the University of Graz, Austria.
Tomás B. Ramos is Professor of Sustainability Assessment and Planning in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, Portugal
Andrea Raggi is Full Professor of Industrial Ecology and related issues in the Department of Economic Studies at “G. d'Annunzio” University of Chieti–Pescara, Italy.
