Circular Economy and Corporate Sustainability

Dear Colleagues,

The time has come for fundamental change. To ensure prosperity for humanity in the long term and recovery from the economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, transformation to sustainability is necessary. Achieving sustainability—i.e., a safe and just operating space for humanity—requires changing the way the business operates.

In this Special Issue, we seek to combine the two parallel debates on how to achieve a circular economy and how to achieve business that contributes to sustainability (corporate sustainability). While there is some overlap between these two debates, our aim is to integrate them, joined together through the recognition that neither a circular economy nor incremental corporate sustainability initiatives are sufficient if they do not contribute to achieving sustainability.

A circular economy cannot be one that is only more resource-efficient. It must be one that is resource sufficient, one that uses enough resources to facilitate the securing of the social foundation for humanity and does it in a way that ensures that we stay within the limits of our planet. Corporate sustainability initiatives must ensure that patterns of production and selling techniques that foster linear, narrowly focused business models are replaced with circular ones that broadly engage with and promote global sustainability goals. Positioning the corporate sustainability discussion within the discourse of how to achieve a sustainable circular economy highlights that we need to see transformational change in business as a part of a broader transitioning of our economy.

In this Special Issue, we aim to feature a range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary research contributions that propose solutions, whether for new policies and legislative reforms, for changes within the business, or for channeling other societal, economic, or financial incentives towards achieving sustainable business as an element of the transition towards a sustainable circular economy.

We invite contributions across a range of themes including the following topics:

• Analysis of circular economy regimes in light of broader sustainability goals.
• Integrating social justice in a circular economy.
• Promoting the transition to sustainable business models.
• Sustainable value creation as an element of a sustainable circular economy.
• The content and implications of mandatory sustainability due diligence.
• Sustainability reporting in a sustainable circular economy.
• Bringing global value chains into a sustainable circular business model.
• The role of employees and workers in a sustainable circular economy.
• From consumers to sustainability-oriented citizens.
• Banking and finance in a sustainable circular economy.
• Intellectual property rights as a driver of and an obstacle to a sustainable circular economy.
• Competition in a sustainable circular economy.

Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• circular economy
• sustainability
• planetary boundaries
• social foundation
• business
• corporate purpose
• business strategies
• sustainability strategies
• sustainable finance
• sustainable production and consumption
• sustainable business models
• sustainable value creation
• due diligence
• financial risks of unsustainability
• EU Green Deal
• citizens
• stakeholders