Performance of the small island developing economies in circular economy: An attempt at measurement and comparison

Abstract

The circular economy has gained prominence in political discourse, is being implemented at multiple levels, and continues to attract scholarly attention. Numerous indicators have been developed to assess circularity and support decision-making. However, at the macro level, these indicators are rarely applied to small island economies, despite their pressing need for economic transformation due to their unique characteristics. To address this gap, we propose the Territorial Circularity Index (TCI), a new indicator grounded in territorial-level material flow analysis (MFA) and building on the National Circularity Index (Circle Economy Foundation) and the Circular Material Use Rate (Eurostat). Our analysis of small island economies from 2018 to 2023 reveals a global trend of declining circularity. While these economies exhibit low circularity levels, they outperform some European countries. The TCI is recommended as a standard tool for assessing macro-level circularity in islands and other data-scarce territories, providing a practical monitoring framework for local authorities to evaluate the impact of circular economy strategies.