Environmental justice for circular supply chains: A research agenda

This paper develops an environmental justice (EJ) research agenda for circular supply chains. While conventional linear Supply Chain Management (SCM) coordinates one-way flows from extraction to disposal, circular supply chains organise reverse flows – such as reuse, repair, remanufacture, and recycling – within the broader circular economy (CE) to close material loops. We argue that while recent scholarship has initiated a “justice turn” in SCM, the specific structural mechanisms of circularity remain obscured or under-theorised. Using circular supply chains as an exemplary case, we identify three systemic issues: the territorial (re)distribution of risks and burdens; the (re)production of power asymmetries; and the (re)legitimation of business-as-usual via narrow technical compliance. Drawing on distributional, procedural, and recognitional justice, we propose a research agenda that reorients assessment beyond firm boundaries. This includes tracing material flows to reveal territorial vulnerabilities, comparing impacts across geographies among firms with similar levels of circularity, and examining how governance infrastructures allocate decision rights and costs, recognise affected actors, and respond when circularity causes harm. This agenda advances EJ-in-SCM work by calling for research that ensures circularity serves as a catalyst for structural transformation rather than a greener rebranding of global inequalities.