{"title":"Is circular economy a failing sustainability paradigm? Not necessarily","authors":"Julian Kirchherr, Kris Hartley","doi":"10.1111/jiec.70055","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Sluggish progress on circular economy (CE) implementation is raising some concern that this allegedly new paradigm for sustainability is failing. While initial optimism had anticipated faster progress, actors across the private sector, government, consumer markets, and academia are embracing CE with varying speed and commitment. Circular principles are included in policy documents and corporate reports, and the circular start-up and scale-up realms are growing. Consumer awareness also appears to be rising, and a vibrant academic literature has emerged. We examine the roles of stakeholders in CE transition and pathways to acceleration and argue that the incrementalism often cited as a failure of CE is a fundamental characteristic of the paradigm; this notion forecloses the possibility of transformational change but supports an optimistic narrative. The characteristic of incrementalism makes CE progress metrics easier to measure and communicate, and we argue that, from this perspective, CE is making more progress than many critics suggest. This article elaborates on these points and argues for a more critical and provocative discourse around CE.</p>","PeriodicalId":16050,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Industrial Ecology","volume":"29 4","pages":"1051-1059"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jiec.70055","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Industrial Ecology","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jiec.70055","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, ENVIRONMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Sluggish progress on circular economy (CE) implementation is raising some concern that this allegedly new paradigm for sustainability is failing. While initial optimism had anticipated faster progress, actors across the private sector, government, consumer markets, and academia are embracing CE with varying speed and commitment. Circular principles are included in policy documents and corporate reports, and the circular start-up and scale-up realms are growing. Consumer awareness also appears to be rising, and a vibrant academic literature has emerged. We examine the roles of stakeholders in CE transition and pathways to acceleration and argue that the incrementalism often cited as a failure of CE is a fundamental characteristic of the paradigm; this notion forecloses the possibility of transformational change but supports an optimistic narrative. The characteristic of incrementalism makes CE progress metrics easier to measure and communicate, and we argue that, from this perspective, CE is making more progress than many critics suggest. This article elaborates on these points and argues for a more critical and provocative discourse around CE.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Industrial Ecology addresses a series of related topics:
material and energy flows studies (''industrial metabolism'')
technological change
dematerialization and decarbonization
life cycle planning, design and assessment
design for the environment
extended producer responsibility (''product stewardship'')
eco-industrial parks (''industrial symbiosis'')
product-oriented environmental policy
eco-efficiency
Journal of Industrial Ecology is open to and encourages submissions that are interdisciplinary in approach. In addition to more formal academic papers, the journal seeks to provide a forum for continuing exchange of information and opinions through contributions from scholars, environmental managers, policymakers, advocates and others involved in environmental science, management and policy.