IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v203y2023ics0921800922002683.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does circular economy mitigate the extraction of natural resources? Empirical evidence based on analysis of 28 European economies over the past decade

Author

Listed:
  • Bianchi, Marco
  • Cordella, Mauro

Abstract

Moving towards a circular economy (CE) has become one of the main strategic initiatives on a global scale in the search for sustainable economic systems. However, the conceptual relationship between sustainable development and the circular economy is a matter of ongoing debate. In particular, the extent to which CE initiatives are contributing to the mitigation of resource extraction seems to be a still unclear topic. This paper investigates the relationship between the extraction of natural resources and the CE, and also analyses the effects of critical socioeconomic drivers such as economic and population growth and economic structures. The analysis is based on a panel data covering 28 European countries during the period 2010–2019. Results confirm that promoting a shift towards more circular economic systems can reduce the extraction of primary resources. However, the mitigating effect of CE initiatives remains rather marginal when compared to the impact of economic growth. Namely, estimates show that the primary resources extracted annually linked to economic growth are roughly four times the resources saved by CE initiatives. The findings provide evidence that the circularity of economic systems should be approached from a systemic perspective that includes both production and consumption as well as waste management. In particular, complementary measures addressing behavioural consumption are needed if we want to achieve a sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Bianchi, Marco & Cordella, Mauro, 2023. "Does circular economy mitigate the extraction of natural resources? Empirical evidence based on analysis of 28 European economies over the past decade," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:203:y:2023:i:c:s0921800922002683
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107607
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800922002683
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107607?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James West & Heinz Schandl, 2018. "Explanatory Variables for National Socio‐Metabolic Profiles and the Question of Forecasting National Material Flows in a Globalized Economy," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 22(6), pages 1451-1464, December.
    2. Stern, David I., 2004. "The Rise and Fall of the Environmental Kuznets Curve," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1419-1439, August.
    3. Marco Bianchi & Carlos Tapia & Ikerne del Valle, 2020. "Monitoring domestic material consumption at lower territorial levels: A novel data downscaling method," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 24(5), pages 1074-1087, October.
    4. York, Richard & Rosa, Eugene A. & Dietz, Thomas, 2003. "STIRPAT, IPAT and ImPACT: analytic tools for unpacking the driving forces of environmental impacts," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 351-365, October.
    5. Ulucak, Recep & Koçak, Emrah & Erdoğan, Seyfettin & Kassouri, Yacouba, 2020. "Investigating the non-linear effects of globalization on material consumption in the EU countries: Evidence from PSTR estimation," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    6. Croissant, Yves & Millo, Giovanni, 2008. "Panel Data Econometrics in R: The plm Package," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 27(i02).
    7. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    8. Andreas Mayer & Willi Haas & Dominik Wiedenhofer & Fridolin Krausmann & Philip Nuss & Gian Andrea Blengini, 2019. "Measuring Progress towards a Circular Economy: A Monitoring Framework for Economy‐wide Material Loop Closing in the EU28," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 23(1), pages 62-76, February.
    9. Korhonen, Jouni & Honkasalo, Antero & Seppälä, Jyri, 2018. "Circular Economy: The Concept and its Limitations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 37-46.
    10. Willi Haas & Fridolin Krausmann & Dominik Wiedenhofer & Markus Heinz, 2015. "How Circular is the Global Economy?: An Assessment of Material Flows, Waste Production, and Recycling in the European Union and the World in 2005," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 19(5), pages 765-777, October.
    11. Louise Laumann Kjaer & Daniela C. A. Pigosso & Monia Niero & Nynne Marie Bech & Tim C. McAloone, 2019. "Product/Service‐Systems for a Circular Economy: The Route to Decoupling Economic Growth from Resource Consumption?," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 23(1), pages 22-35, February.
    12. Carlos Tapia & Marco Bianchi & Georg Pallaske & Andrea M. Bassi, 2021. "Towards a territorial definition of a circular economy: exploring the role of territorial factors in closed-loop systems," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(8), pages 1438-1457, August.
    13. Millar, Neal & McLaughlin, Eoin & Börger, Tobias, 2019. "The Circular Economy: Swings and Roundabouts?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 11-19.
    14. Florian Flachenecker, 2018. "The causal impact of material productivity on macroeconomic competitiveness in the European Union," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 20(1), pages 17-46, January.
    15. Yu Gan & Tianzhu Zhang & Sai Liang & Zhongnan Zhao & Nan Li, 2013. "How to Deal with Resource Productivity," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 17(3), pages 440-451, June.
    16. Weisz, Helga & Duchin, Faye, 2006. "Physical and monetary input-output analysis: What makes the difference?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(3), pages 534-541, May.
    17. Pothen, Frank & Welsch, Heinz, 2019. "Economic development and material use. Evidence from international panel data," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 107-119.
    18. Alan Murray & Keith Skene & Kathryn Haynes, 2017. "The Circular Economy: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Concept and Application in a Global Context," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(3), pages 369-380, February.
    19. Trevor Zink & Roland Geyer, 2017. "Circular Economy Rebound," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 21(3), pages 593-602, June.
    20. Steinberger, Julia K. & Krausmann, Fridolin & Eisenmenger, Nina, 2010. "Global patterns of materials use: A socioeconomic and geophysical analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(5), pages 1148-1158, March.
    21. Domenech, Teresa & Bahn-Walkowiak, Bettina, 2019. "Transition Towards a Resource Efficient Circular Economy in Europe: Policy Lessons From the EU and the Member States," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 7-19.
    22. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    23. Glenn A. Aguilar‐Hernandez & Sebastiaan Deetman & Stefano Merciai & João F. D. Rodrigues & Arnold Tukker, 2021. "Global distribution of material inflows to in‐use stocks in 2011 and its implications for a circularity transition," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(6), pages 1447-1461, December.
    24. Fernández-Herrero, Laura & Duro, Juan Antonio, 2019. "What causes inequality in Material Productivity between countries?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 1-16.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kristian Kongshøj, 2023. "Social policy in a future of degrowth? Challenges for decommodification, commoning and public support," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Viktoria Mannheim & Judit Lovasné Avató, 2023. "Life-Cycle Assessments of Meat-Free and Meat-Containing Diets by Integrating Sustainability and Lean: Meat-Free Dishes Are Sustainable," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-24, August.
    3. Olatunji A. Shobande & Simplice A. Asongu, 2023. "The dilemmas of relevance: exploring the role of Natural resources and Energy Consumption in managing climate crisis in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 23/026, African Governance and Development Institute..
    4. Shuai Zhang & Dajian Zhu & Lilian Li, 2023. "Urbanization, Human Inequality, and Material Consumption," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-18, March.
    5. Oksana Marinina & Natalia Kirsanova & Marina Nevskaya, 2022. "Circular Economy Models in Industry: Developing a Conceptual Framework," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-21, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marco Bianchi & Carlos Tapia & Ikerne del Valle, 2020. "Monitoring domestic material consumption at lower territorial levels: A novel data downscaling method," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 24(5), pages 1074-1087, October.
    2. Wendler, Tobias & Töbelmann, Daniel & Günther, Jutta, 2021. "Natural resources and technology - on the mitigating effect of green tech," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242416, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    3. Tobias Wendler & Daniel Töbelmann & Jutta Günther, 2019. "Natural resources and technology - on the mitigating effect of green tech," Bremen Papers on Economics & Innovation 1905, University of Bremen, Faculty of Business Studies and Economics.
    4. Chembessi Chedrak & Gohoungodji Paulin & Juste Rajaonson, 2023. "“A fine wine, better with age”: Circular economy historical roots and influential publications: A bibliometric analysis using Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy (RPYS)," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(6), pages 1593-1612, December.
    5. Hervé Corvellec & Alison F. Stowell & Nils Johansson, 2022. "Critiques of the circular economy," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(2), pages 421-432, April.
    6. Ulucak, Recep & Koçak, Emrah & Erdoğan, Seyfettin & Kassouri, Yacouba, 2020. "Investigating the non-linear effects of globalization on material consumption in the EU countries: Evidence from PSTR estimation," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    7. Lahcen, Bart & Eyckmans, Johan & Rousseau, Sandra & Dams, Yoko & Brusselaers, Jan, 2022. "Modelling the circular economy: Introducing a supply chain equilibrium approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    8. Armaghan Chizaryfard & Paolo Trucco & Cali Nuur, 2021. "The transformation to a circular economy: framing an evolutionary view," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 475-504, April.
    9. Clube, Rebecca K.M. & Tennant, Mike, 2020. "The Circular Economy and human needs satisfaction: Promising the radical, delivering the familiar," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    10. Millar, Neal & McLaughlin, Eoin & Börger, Tobias, 2019. "The Circular Economy: Swings and Roundabouts?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 11-19.
    11. Fang, Wen Shwo & Miller, Stephen M. & Yeh, Chih-Chuan, 2012. "The effect of ESCOs on energy use," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 558-568.
    12. Jin Xijie & Gwang-Nam Rim & Chol-Ju An, 2023. "Some Methodological Issues in Assessing the Efforts for the Circular Economy by Region or Country," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, July.
    13. Martínez-Zarzoso, Inmaculada & Maruotti, Antonello, 2011. "The impact of urbanization on CO2 emissions: Evidence from developing countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 1344-1353, May.
    14. Georgios Lanaras-Mamounis & Anastasios Kipritsis & Thomas A. Tsalis & Konstantinos Ι. Vatalis & Ioannis E. Nikolaou, 2022. "A Framework for Assessing the Contribution of Firms to Circular Economy: a Triple-Level Approach," Circular Economy and Sustainability,, Springer.
    15. Ewa Mazur-Wierzbicka, 2021. "Towards Circular Economy—A Comparative Analysis of the Countries of the European Union," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-25, May.
    16. Florian Hofmann & Melanie Jaeger‐Erben, 2020. "Organizational transition management of circular business model innovations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2770-2788, September.
    17. Sina Leipold & Anna Petit‐Boix & Anran Luo & Hanna Helander & Machteld Simoens & Weslynne S. Ashton & Callie W. Babbitt & Alba Bala & Catharina R. Bening & Morten Birkved & Fenna Blomsma & Casper Boks, 2023. "Lessons, narratives, and research directions for a sustainable circular economy," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(1), pages 6-18, February.
    18. John Rincón-Moreno & Marta Ormazabal & Maria J. Álvarez & Carmen Jaca, 2020. "Shortcomings of Transforming a Local Circular Economy System through Industrial Symbiosis: A Case Study in Spanish SMEs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-18, October.
    19. Katja Beyer & Marlen Gabriele Arnold, 2022. "Social sustainability in an evolving circular fashion industry: identifying and triangulating concepts across different publication groups [Soziale Nachhaltigkeit in einer sich entwickelnden zirkul," NachhaltigkeitsManagementForum | Sustainability Management Forum, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 29-54, December.
    20. Miguel Rodríguez & Yolanda Pena-Boquete, 2013. "Mishandling carbon intensities," Working Papers 1302, Universidade de Vigo, Departamento de Economía Aplicada.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:203:y:2023:i:c:s0921800922002683. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.