Integrating circular economy and sustainability assessment on the micro-level: An umbrella review

Abstract

The implementation of Circular Economy (CE) strategies in industry requires the adoption of effective assessment approaches to measure progresses in several dimensions, including the sustainability level. However, the lack of standardization of CE related concepts and assessment methods that also include sustainability assessment results in a fragmented landscape that does not help companies and organizations to effectively assess the circular and environmental performance of their business strategies. This work aims at summarizing the state of the art about CE assessment approaches on the micro level including sustainability considerations, with the objective to contribute to the systematization of circularity assessment approaches from a sustainability perspective. With this purpose, an umbrella review is performed, revealing trends and criticalities related to circularity and sustainability assessment, and suggesting some steps for future research on this topic. A classification of assessment approaches is provided as a basis for the analysis. Results confirm the heterogeneity of assessment methods, outlining that CE strategies are not well represented in current approaches, while sustainability dimensions are often neglected, especially the social one. Future research should address these gaps and focus on the integration of sustainability in CE assessment, proposing leading approaches and industry-specific methods.