Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, the environmental crisis caused by the over-exploitation of resources coupled with the reckless consumption and production models and climate change has increased the urgency to act in order to preserve the survival of the whole ecosystem (García-Sánchez et al., 2021). The recent COVID-19 outbreak has exacerbated this climate and environmental emergency state, imposing new revolutionary challenges to tackle (García-Sánchez et al., 2020). Therefore, policymakers, public and private organizations and citizens have been called on to co-operate to address this global trial.

In this context, Ecological Transition (ET) has emerged as the best way to cope with this crisis. ET is at the heart of the current political debate and many projects of the most important European and world states. The aim is to achieve a changing process to revive the global economy and all the productive sectors within a well-defined framework focused on environmental respect and protection.

In order to achieve this purpose, an economic paradigm shift is required. The traditional linear economic model that relies on the take–make–dispose paradigm—based on the continuous extraction of raw materials, mass consumption and waste disposal at the end of products life stage—has been increasingly considered unsustainable (Ghisellini et al., 2020). This paved the way for adopting a more sustainable economic model. In contrast, Circular Economy (CE) is defined as an economy designed to "regenerate itself": biological materials are reinserted into the biosphere, and technical origin materials are designed to be reused with a minimum loss in quality. Thus, implementing CE principles—based on the practices of reduction, reuse and recycle—in the business strategies should stimulate the organizations in creating environmental value and enhance efficiency in resources and process management.  

Many interventions and regulations at both European and international levels have been enacted to promote CE policies.  The launch in 2015 of the European Circular Economy action plan for 2020 has allowed the implementation of the EU product policy framework for the CE (European Commission, 2014; 2015; 2016a; 2016b). Attuned, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has included CE principles in the definition of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Furthermore, a new CE action plan was introduced in 2020 as a part of the European Green Deal (European Commission, 2019a; 2019b; 2019c; 2020).  

The relevance of CE in driving the global society's transition towards sustainable development has also sparked interest among academics. Several scholars have started investigating methods and tools for shaping production and consumption processes (e.g., Ghisellini et al., 2016; Masi et al., 2017).  CE has also been investigated as a tool to shape corporate decision-making processes towards the achievement of sustainability pillars' (e.g., Geissdoerfer et al., 2016; Lewandowski, 2016; Merli et al., 2018). A recent stream of literature has begun to explore how companies communicate their transition toward a circular economy through non-financial reports such as sustainability and integrated reporting, also investigating the determinants (Raimo et al., 2021; Kuo and Chang, 2021).

Literature has shown that in order to catalyze the ET, the shift towards the adoption of CE practices is required at a supply chain level, rather than the individual company level, engaging all the actors of the supply chain (Esposito et al., 2020). Moreover, the adoption of digital technologies for process management has been identified as a strategic enabler for developing CE business models through data-driven input  (Pagoropoulos et al., 2017; Gupta et al., 2019).

Despite the relevance of this topic and the growing attention of the scientific community, the debate about ET and CE is still in its embryonic stage. Therefore, the aim of this Special Issue is to collect high-quality original contributions and review papers focused on CE and ET in different knowledge fields. Authors are also encouraged to propose multidisciplinary approaches for CE business models investigations. 

This Special Issue will welcome scientific papers related but not limited to the following topics:

• Circular strategies for sustainable consumption;
• Circular Economy and Ecological Transition at a supply chain level;
• Circular Economy indicators;
• Circular Economy disclosure and communication;
• Circular Economy and urban sustainability;
• Circular Economy tools (e.g., Life Cycle Assessment; Life Cycle Costing; Material Flow Analysis);
• Big Data Analytics and data-driven decision-making processes for Circular Economy.

References

Braungart, M.; McDonough, W.; Bollinger; A. Cradle-to-cradle design: Creating healthy emissions—A strategy for eco-effective product and system design. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2007, 15, 1337–1348.

Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Towards the Circular Economy Vol.1: An Economic and Business Rationale for an Accelerated Transition; Ellen MacArthur Foundation: Cowes, UK, 2013

Ellen Macarthur Foundation; Growth within: A Circular Economy Vision for a Competitive Europe, 2015.

Esposito, B.; Sessa, M.R.; Sica, D.; Malandrino, O. Towards Circular Economy in the Agri-Food Sector. A Systematic Literature Review. Sustainability 2020, 12, 7401.

European Commission: Brussels, Belgium, European Commission. Communication from the commission to the European parliament, the council, the European economic and social committee and the committee of the regions. In Closing the Loop—An EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy, 2014;

European Commission: Brussels, Belgium; Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Towards the Circular Economy: Opportunities for the Consumer Goods Sector, 2015;

European Commission. A European Agenda for the Collaborative Economy (No. COM(2016) 356 Final). Brussels, 2016a.

European Commission. Ecodesign Working Plan 2016-2019 (No. COM(2016) 773 Final). Brussels, 2016b.  

European Commission. Report on the Implementation of the Circular Economy Action Plan. Brussels, 2019a.

European Commission. Sustainable Products in a Circular Economy - towards an EU Product Policy Framework Contributing to the Circular Economy, 2019b.  

European Commission. The European Green Deal, Brussels, 2019c.

European Commission. Circular Economy Action Plan - for a Cleaner and More Competitive Europe. Belgium, 2020.

García-Sánchez, I. M., Raimo, N., Marrone, A.; Vitolla, F. How does integrated reporting change in light of COVID-19? A Revisiting of the content of the integrated reports. Sustainability, 2020 12(18), 7605.

García-Sánchez, I. M., Raimo, N.,; Vitolla, F. Are Environmentally Innovative Companies Inclined towards Integrated Environmental Disclosure Policies?. Administrative Sciences, 2021 11(1), 29.

Geissdoerfer, M., Savaget, P., Bocken, N.M.P., Hultink, E.J. The Circular Economy. A new sustainability paradigm? Journal of Cleaner Production, 2016.

Ghisellini, P., Cialani, C., Ulgiati, S., A review on circular economy: the ex-pected transition to a balanced interplay of environmental and economic systems. Journal of Cleaner Production 2016, 114, 11-32.

Ghisellini, P.; Ulgiati, S. Circular economy transition in Italy. Achievements, perspectives and constraints. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2020, 243, 118360.

Gupta, Shivam & Chen, Haozhe & Hazen, Benjamin T. & Kaur, Sarabjot & Santibañez Gonzalez, Ernesto D.R.; Circular economy and big data analytics: A stakeholder perspective. Technological Forecasting and Social, 2019, vol. 144(C), pages 466-474

Kuo, Lopin, and Bao-Guang Chang. The affecting factors of circular economy information and its impact on corporate economic sustainability-Evidence from China. Sustainable production and consumption, 2021, Vol. 27, 986-997.

Lewandowski, M., Designing the business models for circular economy-towards the conceptual framework. Sustainability, 2016.

Merli, R.; Preziosi, M.; Acampora, A. How do scholars approach the circular economy? A systematic literature review Journal of Cleaner Production, 2017, 178, 703–722.

Pagoropoulos A., Pigosso D.C.A., McAloone T.C., The Emergent Role of Digital Technologies in the Circular Economy: A Review, Procedia CIRP, 2017, 64, 19-24.

Raimo, N., de Nuccio, E., & Vitolla, F., Corporate governance and environmental disclosure through integrated reporting. Measuring Business Excellence, 2021.

Prof. Dr. Nicola Raimo
Prof. Dr. Filippo Vitolla
Prof. Dr. Ornella Malandrino
Dr. Benedetta Esposito
Guest Editors

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• circular economy
• ecological transition
• climate change
• SDGs practices
• life cycle assessment