Enabling Circular Economy By Breaking Up System Boundaries

Integrative conceptualization of products and business models for the circular economy: A systematic literature review

Carbon dioxide is a potent “greenhouse” gas. The dramatic increase in its concentration in the atmosphere as a result of human activities, beginning with accelerated fossil fuels combustion in the late 18th century, and perhaps even earlier, with modern agricultural expansion 8,000 years ago (1, 2), is driving a striking rise in global temperature (3). For the past 650,000 years, until relatively recently, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere was 280 ppm or less; however, the current concentration exceeds 380 ppm and, on its present trajectory, will surpass 550 ppm by 2050 (3). The accumulation of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is forcing an elevation of global mean temperature; during the lifetime of child born today, the average temperature of the earth will increase by as much as ≈6°C (3). Working in concert, elevated temperature and CO2 are redistributing plant and animal communities on the surface of the earth (4). Because of the direct effect of CO2 and temperature on global food supplies, the influence of these changes on plant physiology and ecology is being actively studied (4–7). How these elements of global change may alter the interactions between plants and the insects that feed on them is relatively unknown. By bringing to light secrets contained in the fossil record, Currano et al. (8), published in this issue of PNAS, found that the amount and diversity of insect damage to plants increased in association with an abrupt rise in atmospheric CO2 and global temperature that occurred >55 million years ago. If the past is indeed a window to the future, their findings suggest that increased insect herbivory will be one more unpleasant surprise arising from anthropogenic climate change.

2 - Crop management practices for carbon sequestration

Creating value in the circular economy: A structured multiple-case analysis of business models

Simple SummaryEarth is currently facing the effects of climate change in all environmental ecosystems; this, together with pollution, is the cause of species extinction and biodiversity loss. Thus, it is vital to take actions to mitigate and decrease the release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The emergence of energetic transition from fossil fuels to greener energies is clearly defined in the United Nations 2030 agenda. Although this transition endorses the ambitious goal to supply greener energy for all developed societies, the increased demand for the minerals essential to develop cleaner energetic technologies has highlighted several economic and environmental issues. Currently, these minerals are mainly obtained by mining activities that generate high levels of soil and water pollution, coupled with the intensive use of water and hazardous gas release. On the other hand, the exponential increase of electronic waste derived from end-of-life electronic equipment is already raising environmental concerns due to heavy metal contamination as a result of their disposal. Thus, it is vital to develop sustainable and efficient strategies to mitigate energetic transition environmental footprints. This review highlights the use of seaweed biomass for toxic mineral bioremediation, recycling, and as an alternative material for greener energy-storage device development.Resulting from the growing human population and the long dependency on fossil-based energies, the planet is facing a critical rise in global temperature, which is affecting all ecosystem networks. With a growing consciousness this issue, the EU has defined several strategies towards environment sustainability, where biodiversity restoration and preservation, pollution reduction, circular economy, and energetic transition are paramount issues. To achieve the ambitious goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2050, it is vital to mitigate the environmental footprint of the energetic transition, namely heavy metal pollution resulting from mining and processing of raw materials and from electronic waste disposal. Additionally, it is vital to find alternative materials to enhance the efficiency of energy storage devices. This review addresses the environmental challenges associated with energetic transition, with particular emphasis on the emergence of new alternative materials for the development of cleaner energy technologies and on the environmental impacts of mitigation strategies. We compile the most recent advances on natural sources, particularly seaweed, with regard to their use in metal recycling, bioremediation, and as valuable biomass to produce biochar for electrochemical applications.

The concept of the circular economy has gained traction among scholars, governments, and businesses alike who advocate it as a remedy to the grand sustainability challenges of our time. These challenges include the enormous increase in resource use, waste, and greenhouse gas emissions from increasing production and consumption. Through its linkage with these sustainability challenges, the circular economy concept was transferred to an entirely renewed scale and scope of application within a short period of time. This PhD dissertation responds to calls in the scientific circular economy literature to better conceptualize and measure the circular economy. First, in its new context of application, the circular economy has often been criticized as a melting pot of concepts lacking consensus across scholars and other societal stakeholders. Second, circular economy measurement has thus far mostly been focused on technical aspects of the circular economy, quantitative performance measures and final sustainability impacts, rather than the progress of the transition to a circular economy. As a contribution to circular economy conceptualization, this dissertation synthesizes conceptual foundations of the circular economy into a new circular economy definition and it creates a comprehensive framework of a key circular economy principle, the circular economy value retention options (also called R-strategies). The definition includes the basic principles of circular economy (systems and value retention options), enablers (businesses models and consumers), and aims (sustainable development and an intact resource based for future generations). The framework of circular economy value retention options emerges from a qualitative analysis of 69 academic articles and comprises a 10R hierarchy (R0—Refuse, R1—Reduce, R2—Reuse/Resell, R3—Repair, R4—Refurbish, R5—Remanufacture, R6—Repurpose, R7—Recycle, R8—Recover Energy, R9—Remine). Circular economy measurement in the dissertation focuses on better understanding the circular economy transition in the formative phase through system-oriented measurement of circular economy processes. Two different frameworks are constructed in leaning on the “technological innovation systems” approach and its “seven functions of innovation systems”. The first framework focuses on the analyses of multiple, diverse circular economy solution trajectories emerging in parallel. To assess progress of solution trajectories, the 10R framework is utilized, and two additional innovation system functions are employed (coordination, regime change) to better capture their progress. An empirical mixed-methods study on the “Dutch circular textiles mission” serves to apply the framework. The second system-oriented framework developed is termed “AMOR”. It combines the original seven functions of innovation systems with the “Abilities, Motivations, Opportunities–AMO” framework and the 10Rs framework into a new framework (AMOR) with nine lead indicators. In the dissertation, a macro-level and a micro-level framework are introduced, and results are obtained based on government data from the Netherlands (macro-level) and through corporate sustainability reports from multinational corporations (micro-level). Overall, the dissertation derives advances on the circular economy concept and its measurement combined with empirical insights. It presents further avenues for conceptualization by academics and proposes that practitioners may use the circular economy definition, the 10R framework, and the measurement frameworks as a guideline for circular economy implementation and monitoring.

Resource Depletion Risk for Medical Equipment: Embracing the Circular Economy.

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Potato, a native of temperate region was introduced in India and adapted to tropical short-day conditions where it covers >80% of total potato area. The crop is very sensitive to climatic variability, and therefore, the climate change and global warming will have a profound effect on potato growth in India. Even moderately high temperature drastically reduces tuber yield without much affecting the photosynthesis and total biomass production. Besides, high temperature affects tuber quality by causing heat sprouting and internal necrosis. The effect of elevated CO2 concentration suggests positive effect on growth and yield with only few negative influences. Study on the impact assessment of climate change on potato production using INFOCROP-POTATO model showed that the potato production will increase by 11.12% at elevated CO2 of 550 ppm and 1°C rise in temperature but further increase in CO2 to 550 ppm with a likely rise in temperature to 3°C will result in decline in potato production by 13.72% in the year 2050. The effect of elevated temperature on late blight at global level revealed that with rise in global temperature of 2°C, there will be lower risk of late blight in warmer areas ( 13°C) with early onset of the epidemics. Global warming will have a serious repercussion on viral diseases through the altered biology of insect vectors. The increase in temperature will enhance vector population thereby increasing the number of insecticide sprays for keeping the vector population in check. The effects of temperature and CO2 on potato growth and development, productivity, diseases and insect pests, and quality have been discussed in the present communication. Besides, regional vulnerability to climate change and adaptation measures for climate change and global warming are also discussed.

The production and manufacture of the textile and fashion industries are known for high utilization of natural resources and the impact on environment and community. The economy that was linear (take-make-waste system) has shifted to a circular economy where product designs are created to reduce waste and the waste generated is converted into new products (upcycling) or resources (down cycling) which go into the second generation of the raw material cycle either in full or as a percentage of the whole. Over the years, the global textile industry has grown to higher levels in terms of production and consumption, but has created a whole set of issues due to the linearity in production and economy. Now efforts are being directed to reduce the waste and close the loop for zero wastage creating a whole lot of challenges and opportunities that is translating itself not only in the manufacture and production techniques and standards but also in the marketing and advertising campaigns. Leading global brands like NIKE, Patagonia, Speedo, BASF are announcing their pledges and statements toward their contribution to circular economy and targets to be achieved in the near future. The new journey of the textile industry is to explore the methods of incorporating the principles of the circular economy in all levels of product development and stake holder consciousness. Some critical points of consideration are the creation of new business models that increase the utility of clothing, inclusion of safe and renewable inputs and smart solutions that convert used clothes into new ones. Similarly many solutions may be available or may be developed, but manufacturing and industry must aim at zero waste production and circular economy.

The transition to a circular economy (CE) remains an anticipated future with alternative pathways for its fulfillment. Most research on CE is normative about technological approaches and interpretations for production and sustainable development. However, critical reviews of CE help understand that CE's emergence is constrained to current dominant goals. As a set of imagined futures, the visions of CE are produced and shared in discursive practices. We hypothesize that the existence of alternative discourses about CE originates from alignment with or divergence from current dominant goals. Green growth holds the dominant position as a goal in the European discourse about CE. In this study, we present an empirical case of an emerging CE in the region of Trøndelag in Norway. This case uses qualitative data collected through interviews with informants in the public and private sectors (profit and non-profit organizations). The analysis of these interviews involved the use of a discourse coalition framework as a method. We identified three discourse coalitions: 1) Waste as resources: a vision of better product design and waste sorting technologies making recycling more efficient. 2) Sharing economy: a vision of industrial symbiosis, and new business models for local commercial offerings in sharing, reuse, repair of products. 3) Reduction of individual consumption: a vision of individual changes in lifestyle, coupled with local services and skill acquisition/transfer for reuse and repair. The first two operate in alignment with the political goal of green growth. The third one diverges by questioning it and setting focus on individual consumption reduction. We found discursive competition in CE when the focus is on the goal underlying its enactment. From this finding, we raise the question of which kinds of technological implementation and political challenges would come from shifting CE's policy goal to reducing individual consumption. To illustrate an alternative CE that emerges from consumption reduction, we discuss its implications based on the insights from our empirical case. The main contribution of the article is to provide evidence and an example of an emerging aspect that can be integrated more prominently in CE and that requires a stance that is not based on economic growth.

Transitions towards a circular economy (CE) are based on the complementary development of novel circular business models and innovative product designs. Among the most prominent design strategies are modular product architectures that break products down into components that can be independently and easily replaced or reused. So far, most research has focused on technological and business model requirements for modular products but neglected the role of consumers. With the example of smartphones, the chapter shows how the co-shaping of technological and consumer trends does not provide an easy starting point for the modularity of smartphones in a CE. It investigates modularity as a sociotechnical arrangement embedded into people’s everyday lives and reveals that different forms of modular designs and accompanying services need to be implemented to move towards a more sustainable use of smartphones. The chapter concludes that an efficient and sufficient use of modularity as a part of transitions towards a CE cannot be enabled by modular product designs and services alone but would need more political regulation and standardisation.

Characterizing Circular and Open Business Models in a profit-driven environment through Business Model Patterns

How do scholars approach the circular economy? A systematic literature review

This paper discusses the challenges companies in the manufacturing sector face in implementing circular economy (CE) principles. This study draws on a longitudinal multiple-case study to examine the implementation of circular value propositions piloted in two large European manufacturing companies. The study identifies several barriers to CE implementation, including financial uncertainties and technical challenges in establishing effective reverse logistics, as well as organizational barriers such as lock-ins due to linear mindsets and practices. The research emphasizes the need for a systemic approach that integrates product design, business models, supply chains, and ICT to overcome these barriers. The study also proposes a framework for CE transition that includes iterative testing and refinement of solutions that can foster a shift toward CE.