Integration of energy systems, circular economy and efficiency measures

With realization that world's resources are limited, a number of initiatives in all global regions emerged to pursue a common goal of sustainable management of energy and material loops. The intensively researched topics are traditionally gathered under the roof of Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environmental Systems conferences (SDEWES), which in its 16^th edition saw a highly focused and impacting research contributions, tackling the cross-sectoral development and introduction of novel technologies and processes, all devoted to implementation and examination of possible solutions to contribute to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The present paper is gathering and structuring these contributions, enriched with the outcomes of previous SDEWES conferences to enlighten the advances made in the fields of energy harvesting, circular economy and efficient energy use to put into context the role of cleaner chemical engineering. By this, it provides a basis and a guidance for future research on the axis of material-resource-energy nexus which is in the paper identified as an extensively interlinked research area, difficult to be tackled individually and still requiring an important effort to collectively address the cross-sectoral dimension of the challenge.