Short abstract

The circular economy has emerged as a paradigm that contributes to achieve economic and environmental sustainability. However, the environmental implications of circularity are unknown at national and regional scales. This project aims to understand circularity interventions and their  environmental effects at macro-level through the application of multi-regional environmental extended input-output analysis.

Project description

This project is developed as part of the the Circular European Economy Innovative Training Network (Circ€uit), which is an action funded by European Commission under Marie Curie Actions.

Circ€uit  research projects focus on addressing circular economy from 5 perspectives: Business model, Supply chains, Users, Design, and Systems. The latest one is related to the potential environmental and socio-economic impacts of a transition to circular economy.

In the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), as leading project institution, we are working on the assessment of circularity at multiple scales. From an industrial ecology viewpoint, we can apply several  analytical tools that allow us to assess the environmental implications of circular economy strategies.

Considering a top-down approach, this research project seeks to explore which interventions can be implemented for a cost-effective transition to circularity. We develop our analysis based on input-output models, where multi-regional environmental extended input-output tables (such as EXIOBASE database) are  used to analyze the potential impacts of circularity at macro level.

The outcome of the study aims to provide relevant information that can be considered by decision makers for implementing circular economy policies in the future.

Aguilar-Hernandez GA, Sigüenza-Sanchez CP, Donati F, Rodrigues JFD, Tukker A (2018) Assessing circularity interventions : a review of EEIOA‑based studies. J Econ Struct 7:1–24 . doi: 10.1186/s40008-018-0113-3

• circular economy
• circularity interventions
• closing loops
• environmentally extended input-output analysis
• resource efficiency