Circular Economy (CE) is a growing topic among scholars, industries, and governments, and is aimed at decoupling economic growth and development from the consumption of finite resources. CE incorporates different meanings, from reduce, reuse, and recycle activities, to environmental degradation or resource scarcity, and is supported by specific indicators to attain sustainable development. However, so far, there has been no agreement to measure how effective an industry/product is in making the transition from linear to circular approaches, particularly those that affect society. This research work aims to perform a systematic literature review (n = 60) to analyze and discuss how social aspects have been considered and integrated in CE research so far. Moreover, this review provides an overview of the literature on social impact within the CE, which results in three main outputs: a knowledge map of the CE, an analysis of social aspects within CE, and the theories/frameworks used to evaluate social impact of CE. Finally, this study brings to light how CE implementation can affect society and highlights the importance of social dimension in the domains of CE and a policy-making community, which could help move CE towards a sustainable development.
Cet article publié par ELSEVIER provient du Dépôt institutionnel de l'Université Libre de Bruxelles, DIfusion http://difusion.ulb.ac.be. Il n'est accessible qu'aux membres de la communauté universitaire de l'ULB sur le réseau sécurisé de l'ULB. Tout utilisateur autorisé peut lire, télécharger ou reproduire cet article à des fins d'usage privé ou à des fins non commerciales d'enseignement ou de recherche scientifique. Il ne peut être atteint à l'intégrité de l'article, et les noms des auteurs et de l'éditeur doivent être conservés. Tout téléchargement systématique des articles publiés par ELSEVIER mis à disposition dans DI-fusion est interdit. This article published by ELSEVIER comes from the Institutional repository of Université Libre de Bruxelles, DI-fusion http://difusion.ulb.ac.be. It is accessible only to the members of the university community of ULB on the ULB secure network. Any authorized user may read, download or reproduce this article for private usage, or for non commercial research or educational purposes. The integrity of the article and identification of the author and copyright owner must be preserved. Systematic downloading of articles published by ELSEVIER that are available in DI-fusion is not permitted.
In a context of energy transition towards renewable energies, this case study situated in Madagascar allows us to verify the extent to which an on-grid photovoltaic solar power plant represents a vector for sustainable development. The article proposes a model for assessing sustainability from a qualitative multi-criteria perspective. This analysis fits into the theoretical question of the science of sustainability by challenging the theory of endogenous development. The innovation of this research is based on the use of a qualitative approach to a technological issue filling a literature gap in the major issue of the effective sustainability of renewable energy (particularly in the context of an island state). The study emphasizes that the plant can only represent a vector for sustainable development with the collaboration of the concerned parties, which implies considering the electrification needs at the local level. The article confirms that the impacts generated by the power plant can lead to conflicts between different sustainable development goals. Theoretically, the study emphasizes that the evaluation of the sustainability of solar power plants should follow a process that: (i) uses a preferably qualitative methodology likely to understand the local conditions of the communities in which they are established; (ii) identifies dissociated indicators while taking into account the context; and (iii) analyzes the possible negative interactions between the impact areas by highlighting the key areas linked to land management and the well-being of women within a poverty reduction approach.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.