Economic complexity and the Circular Economy: Impacts, challenges and paths to circularity
Article Sidebar
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Main Article Content
Abstract
This research aims to understand the relationship between economic complexity and the circular economy in different scenarios through a comprehensive literature review. The results emphasize the crucial role of economic complexity in sustainable development and the effectiveness of the circular economy. Studies indicate the importance of policies and strategies to promote the transition to more circular practices, considering the diversity of national contexts and encouraging innovation and collaboration between sectors. The analysis reveals that countries with higher economic complexity tend to have more robust frameworks for implementing circular economy principles. This includes advanced technological capabilities, diversified industrial bases, and strong institutional support. By examining various case studies, the research highlights successful examples of circular economy initiatives driven by economic complexity. These initiatives often result in increased resource efficiency, reduced environmental impact, and enhanced economic resilience. Moreover, the findings suggest that fostering economic complexity can accelerate the adoption of circular economy practices. This requires targeted policy interventions, investment in education and research, and the promotion of public-private partnerships. Encouraging a culture of continuous learning and adaptation is also essential to navigate the challenges and opportunities presented by the circular economy. Overall, the study underscores the interconnectedness of economic complexity and circular economy as pivotal elements in achieving sustainable development goals.
References
Acerbi, F., & Taisch, M. (2020). “A literature review on circular economy adoption in the manufacturing sector”. Journal of Cleaner Production, 273, 123086. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123086.
Ahmad, M., & Satrovic, E. (2023). “Role of economic complexity and government intervention in environmental sustainability: Is decentralization critical?”. Journal of Cleaner Production, 418, 138000. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.138000.
Arruda, H., Silva, E. R., Lessa, M., Proença Jr, D., & Bartholo, R. (2022). “VOSviewer and bibliometrix”. Journal of the Medical Library
Association: JMLA, 110(3), 392. https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2022.1434.
Bagalagel, S., & ElMaraghy, W. (2021). “Hybrid decision-making and optimisation framework for manufacturing-remanufacturing closed loop systems”. International Journal of Sustainable Engineering, 14(6), 1396-1410. https://doi.org/10.1080/19397038.2021.2000063.
Botezat, E. A., Dodescu, A. O., Văduva, S., & Fotea, S. L. (2018). “An exploration of circular economy practices and performance among
Romanian producers”. Sustainability, 10(9), 3191. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093191.
Brown, H. (2019). “Circular economies for rural renewal: Revitalizing towns and their bioregions”. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, 238, 291-300. https://doi.org/10.2495/SC190261.
Cakir, B. et al. (2021). “Amalgamation of export with import information: The Economic Complexity Index as a coherent driver of sustainability”. Sustainability, 13(4), 2049. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042049.
Choudhary, D., & Kumar, R. (2021). “Risk investigation in circular economy: a hierarchical decision model approach”. International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, 27(1), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/13675567.2021.2014430.
Demarcq, B., et al. (2022). “Towards a Circular Product (Re) Design Methodology: Proposition of the Unlinear Method to Foster Circularity”. Tehnički Glasnik, 16(2), 246-251. https://doi.org/10.31803/tg-20220410142313.
Donis, S., Gómez, J., & Salazar, I. (2023). “Economic complexity, property rights and the judicial system as drivers of eco-innovations: An analysis of OECD countries”. Technovation, 128, 102868. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2023.102868.
Geissdoerfer, M., et al. (2017). “The Circular Economy-A new sustainability paradigm?” Journal of Cleaner Production, 143, 757-768. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.12.048.
Geng, Y., & Doberstein, B. (2008). “Developing the circular economy in China: Challenges and opportunities for achieving ‘leapfrog development’”. The International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 15(3), 231-239. https://doi.org/10.3843/SUSDEV.15.3:6.
Ghisellini, P., Cialani, C., & Ulgiati, S. (2016). “A review on circular economy: the expected transition to a balanced interplay of environmental and economic systems”. Journal of Cleaner Production, 114, 11-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.09.007.
Ghosh, S., et al. (2022). “Modelling an empirical framework of the implications of tourism and economic complexity on environmental
sustainability in G7 economies”. Journal of Cleaner Production, 376, 134281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134281.
Greco, A., et al. (2023). “Complexity-driven product design: part 1-methodological framework and geometrical complexity index”. International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM), 18(8), 5441-5456. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12008-023-01426-1.
Gupta, H., Kumar, A., & Wasan, P. (2021). “Industry 4.0, cleaner production and circular economy: An integrative framework for evaluating ethical and sustainable business performance of manufacturing organizations”. Journal of Cleaner Production, 295, 126253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126253.
Gyamfi, B. A., et al. (2023). “The synergistic roles of green openness and economic complexity in environmental sustainability of Europe’s largest economy: implications for technology-intensive and environmentally friendly products”. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 102, 107220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2023.107220.
Ha, L. T. (2023). “What are the impacts of economic complexity and product proximity on nations’ circularity? An empirical approach
using statistical analysis”. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 30(39), 90256-90275. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16010391.
Hassan, S. T., et al. (2023). “The impact of economic complexity, technology advancements, and nuclear energy consumption on the ecological footprint of the USA: Towards circular economy initiatives”. Gondwana Research, 113, 237-246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2022.11.001.
Hidalgo, C. A., & Hausmann, R. (2009). “The building blocks of economic complexity”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(26), 10570-10575. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0900943106.
Holmes, H. (2018). “New spaces, ordinary practices: Circulating and sharing within diverse economies of provisioning”. Geoforum, 88, 138-147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.11.022.
Jacobs, C., et al. (2022). “Challenges to the circular economy: Recovering wastes from simple versus complex products”. Sustainability, 14(5), 2576. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14052576.
Joensuu, T., Edelman, H., & Saari, A. (2020). “Circular economy practices in the built environment”. Journal of Cleaner Production, 276, 124215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124215.
Kayikci, Y., et al. (2021). “Exploring barriers to smart and sustainable circular economy: The case of an automotive eco-cluster”. Journal of
Cleaner Production, 314, 127920. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127920.
Keßler, L., Matlin, S. A., & Kümmerer, K. (2021). “The contribution of material circularity to sustainability-Recycling and reuse of textiles”. Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 32, 100535. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsc.2021.100535.
Khan, A., & Ximei, W. (2022). “Digital economy and environmental sustainability: Do information communication and technology (ICT) and economic complexity matter?” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(19), 12301. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912301.
Klein, N., Ramos, T. B., & Deutz, P. (2020). “Circular economy practices and strategies in public sector organizations: An integrative review”. Sustainability, 12(10), 4181. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12104181.
Kreye, M. E., & van Donk, D. P. (2021). “Servitization for consumer products: an empirical exploration of challenges and benefits for supply chain partners”. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 41(5), 494-516. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-07-2020-0439.
Lou, E., et al. (2017). “What should be recycled: An integrated model for product recycling desirability”. Journal of Cleaner Production, 154, 51-60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.03.201.
Macarthur, E. (2015). “Towards a circular economy: business rationale for an accelerated transition”. Greener Manag International. https://bit.ly/4nzSafc.
Mählitz, P. M., et al. (2022). “Contributions of extended batch tests for assessing technical recyclability: A case study of low-value battery flows”. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 26(3), 1061-1077. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13250.
Mongeon, P., & Paul-Hus, A. (2016). “The journal coverage of Web of Science and Scopus: a comparative analysis”. Scientometrics, 106, 213-228. . https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-015-1765-5.
Nandi, S., et al. (2021). “Redesigning supply chains using blockchain-enabled circular economy and COVID-19 experiences”. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 27, 10-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2020.10.019.
Numan, U., et al. (2023). “Role of economic complexity and energy sector in moving towards sustainability in the exporting economies”. Energy Strategy Reviews, 45, 101038. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esr.2022.101038.
Primc, K., et al. (2020). “Circular economy configuration indicators in organizational life cycle theory”. Ecological Indicators, 116, 106532. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106532.
Rafique, M. Z., et al. (2022). “Does economic complexity matter for environmental sustainability? Using ecological footprint as an indicator”. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 24(4), 4623-4640. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-021-01625-4.
Roy, T., Garza-Reyes, J. A., Kumar, V., Kumar, A., & Agrawal, R. (2022). “Redesigning traditional linear supply chains into circular supply chains. A study into its challenges”. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 31, 113-126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2022.02.004.
Saud, S., et al. (2023). “Articulating natural resource abundance, economic complexity, education and environmental sustainability in MENA countries: Evidence from advanced panel estimation”. Resources Policy, 80, 103261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2022.103261.
Schroeder, P., Anggraeni, K., & Weber, U. (2019). “The relevance of circular economy practices to the sustainable development goals”. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 23(1), 77- 95. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12732.
Sehnem, S., & Pereira, S. C. F. (2019). “Towards the Circular Economy: existing synergy between correlated conceptual definitions and appropriation for Brazilian literature”. Revista Eletrônica de Ciência Administrativa, 18(1), 35-62. https://doi.org/10.21529/RECADM.2019002.
Shahzad, U., et al. (2023). “The role of biomass energy consumption and economic complexity on environmental sustainability in G7 economies”. Business Strategy and the Environment, 32(1), 781-801. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3175.
Sierra, J., & Suárez-Collado, Á. (2021). “Understanding economic, social, and environmental sustainability challenges in the global south”. Sustainability, 13(13), 7201. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137201.
Singh, E., et al. (2022). “Solid waste management during COVID-19 pandemic: Recovery techniques and responses”. Chemosphere, 288,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132451.
Sudusinghe, J. I., & Seuring, S. (2022). “Supply chain collaboration and sustainability performance in circular economy: A systematic literature review”. International Journal of Production Economics, 245, 108402. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2021.108402.
Sun, X. Q., Awosusi, A. A., Han, Z., Uzun, B., & Öncü, E. (2024). “Racing towards environmental sustainability: a synergy between
economic complexity, political stability, and energy transition: policy insight from a bootstrap time varying causality approach”. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 31(2), 206-221. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504509.2023.2268573.
Sun, Y., et al. (2022). “Renewable energy transition and environmental sustainability through economic complexity in BRICS countries: fresh insights from novel Method of Moments Quantile regression”. Renewable Energy, 184, 1165-1176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2021.12.003.
Uhrenholt, J. N., et al. (2022). “Maturity model as a driver for circular economy transformation”. Sustainability, 14(12), 7483. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14127483.
Ullah, S., et al. (2024). “Paving the ways toward sustainable development: the asymmetric effect of economic complexity, renewable electricity, and foreign direct investment on the environmental sustainability in BRICS-T”. Environment, Development and Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-023-03085-4.
Upadhyay, A., et al. (2021). “Exploring barriers and drivers to the implementation of circular economy practices in the mining industry”. Resources Policy, 72, 102037. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2021.102037.
Yoshino, M., et al. (2023). “Knowledge absorption pathways for eco-innovation: an empirical analysis of small and medium-sized enterprises in the European Union”. European Journal of Innovation Management. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJIM-02-2023-0136.