Saving resources and the climate? A systematic review of the circular economy and its mitigation potential

Abstract

To achieve the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement, transformative actions are needed. The circular economy (CE) is one concept that gained popularity in recent years, with its proclaimed selling point to combine economic development with benefits to businesses, society, and the environment. However, definitions of CE diverge, applications appear across vastly different settings, and overall there is a lack of understanding of how much CE strategies can contribute to climate change mitigation (mitigation). We systematically screened 3244 records in Web of Science and Scopus, restricted to papers in English. We then selected studies against pre-determined eligibility criteria that, had to (1) refer explicitly to CE or closely related concepts (e.g. performance economy, cradle-to-cradle, material or product efficiency); and (2) refer to a climate change mitigation potential. We identified 341 studies, summarized, and grouped into six sectors (industry, waste, energy, buildings, transport, and agriculture). These sectors are not completely mutually exclusive, but partially overlapping. Nonetheless, sectoral classifications relate to existing categorizations and map well with international assessments of climate change mitigations, such as those of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Our review sets out to summarize the results of the scientific literature on the extent to which CE strategies can contribute to mitigation. Even though our query explicitly required a consideration of climate change, only 10% of all studies contributed insights on how the CE can support mitigation. We find that the highest saving potential is evidenced in the industry, energy, and transport sector; mid-range savings in the waste and building sector; and lowest gains are to be expected in agriculture. The majority of studies investigate incremental measures claiming but not demonstrating climate change mitigation. Most studies indicate potential but implementation remains weak. Assessments should move from attributional to consequential analysis to avoid misleading policy makers.

Global scenarios of resource and emission savings from material efficiency in residential buildings and cars

“…Models also inform about interactions among ME strategies and assess their potential under different energy system and socioeconomic futures. Single materials, products, and sectors have been studied extensively 12 , 16 – 18 , often using life cycle assessment, but there is a gap between these detailed assessments and the more aggregate representation of the industrial system in the climate–energy–economic models used for integrated assessment 2 , 19 . The former tend to overlook the implications of large-scale strategy rollout on material cycles and the changing technology landscape outside of material processing, whereas the latter typically lack a representation of technological detail and mass balances to capture engineering innovations that reduce material demand or the availability of materials for recycling 20 .…”

Contribution of circular economy strategies to climate change mitigation: Generic assessment methodology with focus on developing countries

“…They should thus be further investigated as they may be the source of additional opportunities, as also pointed out by Cantzler et al. (2020).…”

“…Several scientific studies have investigated the link between CE and the reduction of GHG emissions (Cantzler et al., 2020; Pauliuk et al., 2020). These studies have studied the impact of CE measures applied at different scales, for example, at a city level (Christis et al., 2019) or at bigger scales, for example, countries or continents (Liu et al., 2018; Material Economics, 2019; EMF & McKinsey & Company, 2015).…”

Digital Product Passports as Enabler of the Circular Economy

“…There are also several studies indicating that switching to a circular economy is a promising approach to meet the requirements of a more climate-friendly economy [11,[67][68][69][70][71].…”

“…There is still discussion on the potential impact of circular economy on climate goals [11]. However, there is growing evidence that a successful transition to a circular economy would put the world on a path below two degrees by 2032 [12] and help create a society in which resources are used and reused efficiently [1,2].…”