{"title":"Circular economy for resource security in the European Union (EU): Case study, research framework, and future directions","authors":"Brian Baldassarre","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108345","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The European Union (EU) relies on imported raw materials to manufacture renewable energy, digital, mobility, aerospace, and defence technologies. A circular economy can mitigate this critical dependency, for example by recycling materials or remanufacturing products locally. These resource efficiency strategies, however, require new supply chain configurations supported by research and innovation. While this is taking place in few selected supply chains, notably lithium-ion battery technology, little is known about circularity for most critical raw materials and their applications. Information is scattered across industry players and disciplinary competences, or not publicly available due to confidentiality concerns. This article presents a case study on titanium metal circularity in the aviation and defence sectors. The results inform three industrial policy recommendations to mitigate the risk of supply disruption in the EU, aggravated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Based on the case study, a methodological framework is proposed to guide future research on circularity for resource security. This subject requires urgent attention to achieve EU strategic autonomy objectives, against the background of climate change, resource depletion and waste management challenges in a complex geopolitical landscape.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51021,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Economics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800924002428/pdfft?md5=471a41bc8f834096039e0346576d9409&pid=1-s2.0-S0921800924002428-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Ecological Economics","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800924002428","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The European Union (EU) relies on imported raw materials to manufacture renewable energy, digital, mobility, aerospace, and defence technologies. A circular economy can mitigate this critical dependency, for example by recycling materials or remanufacturing products locally. These resource efficiency strategies, however, require new supply chain configurations supported by research and innovation. While this is taking place in few selected supply chains, notably lithium-ion battery technology, little is known about circularity for most critical raw materials and their applications. Information is scattered across industry players and disciplinary competences, or not publicly available due to confidentiality concerns. This article presents a case study on titanium metal circularity in the aviation and defence sectors. The results inform three industrial policy recommendations to mitigate the risk of supply disruption in the EU, aggravated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Based on the case study, a methodological framework is proposed to guide future research on circularity for resource security. This subject requires urgent attention to achieve EU strategic autonomy objectives, against the background of climate change, resource depletion and waste management challenges in a complex geopolitical landscape.
期刊介绍:
Ecological Economics is concerned with extending and integrating the understanding of the interfaces and interplay between "nature''s household" (ecosystems) and "humanity''s household" (the economy). Ecological economics is an interdisciplinary field defined by a set of concrete problems or challenges related to governing economic activity in a way that promotes human well-being, sustainability, and justice. The journal thus emphasizes critical work that draws on and integrates elements of ecological science, economics, and the analysis of values, behaviors, cultural practices, institutional structures, and societal dynamics. The journal is transdisciplinary in spirit and methodologically open, drawing on the insights offered by a variety of intellectual traditions, and appealing to a diverse readership.
Specific research areas covered include: valuation of natural resources, sustainable agriculture and development, ecologically integrated technology, integrated ecologic-economic modelling at scales from local to regional to global, implications of thermodynamics for economics and ecology, renewable resource management and conservation, critical assessments of the basic assumptions underlying current economic and ecological paradigms and the implications of alternative assumptions, economic and ecological consequences of genetically engineered organisms, and gene pool inventory and management, alternative principles for valuing natural wealth, integrating natural resources and environmental services into national income and wealth accounts, methods of implementing efficient environmental policies, case studies of economic-ecologic conflict or harmony, etc. New issues in this area are rapidly emerging and will find a ready forum in Ecological Economics.