ABSTRACT

The fifth Factor X publication from the Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt, UBA), The Impossibilities of the Circular Economy provides an overview of the limits to the circular economy, emphasising the relationship between integrated resource use and more systemic leadership-management approaches.

On a European level, the book ties into the recent European Green Deal and aims to empower actors across sectors and EU member countries to transition from existing linear models of value capture and expression to more systemic-circular solutions of value capture and expression. The volume provides a hands-on contribution towards building the knowledge and skill sets of current and future decision-makers who face these complex-systemic crises in their day-to-day business. The book further provides access to best practices from cutting-edge research and development findings, which will empower decision-makers to develop a more sustainable and equitable economy.

Providing solutions for a more sustainable economy, this book is essential reading for scholars and students of natural resource use, sustainable business, environmental economics and sustainable development, as well as decision-makers and experts from the fields of policy development, industry and civil society.

 

 

The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available

under a Creative Commons Attribution- Non Commercial- No Derivatives 4.0 license.

part I|58 pages

What we dream of!

chapter 1|8 pages

Circularity dreams

Denying physical realities
Size: 0.47 MB

chapter 2|12 pages

Does waste equal food?

Examining the feasibility of circular economy in the food industry
Size: 0.58 MB

chapter 3|14 pages

‘The impossible dream'

Can the circular economy alone solve waste management complexities of the Global South?
Size: 1.30 MB

chapter 4|11 pages

The entropic nature of the economic process

A scientific explanation of the blunder of circular economy
Size: 0.59 MB

part II|86 pages

What are our blind spots?

chapter 6|11 pages

Circular economy, sustainability and functional differentiation

An impossibility and its strategic-methodological implications
Size: 0.51 MB

chapter 7|9 pages

Circularity is not sustainability

How well-intentioned concepts distract us from our true goals, and how SiD can help navigate that challenge
Size: 0.98 MB

chapter 8|9 pages

Circular Economy

From panacea for sustainability to conceptual and resource realities
Size: 0.49 MB

chapter 9|13 pages

Some observations on the current Circular Economy model

In particular, the mineral-metal-material stream blind spots
Size: 1.32 MB

chapter 10|11 pages

Circular economy leadership

Leadership mindsets and behaviours – the unseen impossibility
Size: 0.53 MB
Size: 0.78 MB

chapter 12|12 pages

Who has discursive agency to change global environmental narratives?

Insights from the China–EU cooperation discourse on circular economy
Size: 0.69 MB

part III|70 pages

What we need to stress more!

Size: 0.48 MB

chapter 16|13 pages

From closed to open systems

Applying systems thinking to reframe strategic decision-making
Size: 0.54 MB

chapter 17|11 pages

Truly circular economies require deep collaboration

The principles underlying successful circular economies
Size: 0.65 MB
Size: 0.83 MB

chapter 19|13 pages

Circularity's stumbling blocks

How stuttering implementation and socio-metabolic root causes adversely interact
Size: 0.54 MB

part IV|92 pages

What opportunities do we see?

chapter 20|16 pages

Global resource use and the future

Any room for the circular economy?
Size: 1.85 MB

chapter 21|12 pages

Regenerative economy

The embedding of circularity
Size: 0.48 MB
Size: 0.57 MB

chapter 23|13 pages

Practising circular economy

Stumbling blocks for circulation and recycling
Size: 0.54 MB
Size: 0.52 MB

chapter 25|14 pages

From profit to prosperity

Making the impossible possible through integral investing
Size: 1.00 MB

chapter 26|9 pages

Coming full circle

Putting the social into circular economy
Size: 0.48 MB