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On the Circular Bioeconomy and Decoupling: Implications for Sustainable Growth
Open accessAbstract
This paper explores the existing confusion around the conceptual definitions and interpretations of the term circular bioeconomy. The co-existence of diametrically opposite interpretations of the concept indicates lack of a serious discussion of its theoretical foundations. Two narratives on circular bioeconomy are explored in depth: (i) the new economic paradigm based on technological progress (the economics of technological promises) that seeks perpetual economic growth; (ii) an entropic (thermodynamic) narrative that reflects on the limits on economic growth imposed by nature. The latter narrative makes a distinction between primary, secondary and tertiary resource flows and helps to identify what can and cannot be re-circulated within the metabolic pattern of social-ecological systems. Adopting the biophysical view, it becomes clear that the industrial revolution represented a linearization of material and energy flows with the goal to overcome the low pace and density of biological transformations. The required level of productivity of production factors in contemporary developed economies (flows per hour of labor and per hectare of land use) is orders of magnitude larger than the pace and density of supply and sink capacity of natural processes. Relying on nature to ‘close the loop’ will simply slow down the economic process. • Confusion around the concept of circular bioeconomy is explored • The concept is linked to Georgescu-Roegen's fund-flow model • The industrial revolution was a movement from a circular to a linearized economy • Dependence on renewable ecological fund-flows slows down the economic process • Current productivity of productions factors is incompatible with circular bioeconomy
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“Similar to the circular economy, the bioeconomy is an emerging field whose definitions and interpretations are also surrounded by confusion (Aguilar et al., 2019; Giampietro, 2019).”
From Circular Bioeconomy Concepts—A Perspective (2021) · cites this paper as Giampietro, 2019
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From elite folk science to the policy legend of the circular economy
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The social contribution of the circular economy
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Theoretical Research on Circular Economy and Sustainability Trade-Offs and Synergies
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“Hence, to operate within the biosphere’s boundaries, current economic growth needs to slow down to a level that aligns with the biosphere’s supply capacity for renewable resources and its regeneration capacity for ecological externalities from economic activities [35,36].”
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“Moreover, biofertilizers can improve soil structure, promote beneficial microbial 10.3389/fsufs.2023.1207197 Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 03 frontiersin.org activity, and reduce the risk of nutrient runoff (Giampietro, 2019; Yue and Guo, 2021; Peña-Torres et al., 2022).”
BackgroundInfluentialOverarching Business Models for a Circular Bioeconomy: Systematising archetypes
Salvador, R., Barros, M. V., Pieroni, M., Silva, D. A. L., Freire, F. M. C. S., & de Francisco, A. C. (2023) · Sustainable Production and Consumption · doi:10.1016/j.spc.2023.11.010 · Cited by 46
“So far, the CBE has been underexplored (Stegmann et al., 2020), and its concept is under development (Giampietro, 2019).”
Mora, M. A. M., Pijpers, J. J. H., Antonio, A. C., de la Cruz, J., & Calderón, A. M. A. (2021) · Journal of Energy Storage · doi:10.1016/j.est.2021.102339 · Cited by 36
Friedrich, J., Najork, K., Keck, M., & Zscheischler, J. (2021) · Sustainable Production and Consumption · doi:10.1016/j.spc.2021.12.026 · Cited by 35
“…by this notion, some authors even propose that the bioeconomy be perceived as a “panacea” by policy makers for obstacles to ultimately reconciling the effort s to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the limitations of the planet’s life support systems ( Giampietro, 2019 ).”
Arai, R., Friant, M. C., & Vermeulen, W. J. V. (2023) · Circular Economy and Sustainability · doi:10.1007/s43615-023-00298-7 · Cited by 35
“At present, policies and practices rely heavily on technologies such as incineration and recycling (R7-8), yet reliance on these measures will not lead to an effective circulation and conservation of limited resources [83–86].”
Trends and policy in bioeconomy literature: a bibliometric review
Gould, H., Kelleher, L., & O'Neill, E. (2023) · EFB Bioeconomy Journal · doi:10.1016/j.bioeco.2023.100047 · Cited by 28
Meseguer-Sánchez, V., Gálvez‐Sánchez, F. J., Moreno, V. M., & de Bobadilla, G. W. F. (2021) · Frontiers in Environmental Science · doi:10.3389/fenvs.2021.704387 · Cited by 35
“This limited theoretical development leads to unclear practical implications for sustainability (Giampietro, 2019), resulting in some ambiguity regarding the circular economy.”
BackgroundGenovese, A., Ponte, B., Cannella, S., & Domínguez, R. (2023) · International Journal of Production Economics · doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2022.108765 · Cited by 34
Towards a Sustainable Bioeconomy through Industrial Symbiosis: Current Situation and Perspectives
Bijon, N., Wassenaar, T., Junqua, G., & Dechesne, M. (2022) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su14031605 · Cited by 27
“This institutional vision of BE suggests an increase in technological innovation to foster economic growth and increase the use of biomass resources in all economic sectors [25,29], which is likely to result in generally weak sustainability [10,36,42,51].”
BackgroundSustainable Development Goals and End-of-Life Electric Vehicle Battery: Literature Review
Akram, M. N., & Abdul-Kader, W. (2023) · Batteries · doi:10.3390/batteries9070353 · Cited by 32
“17 of 27 Table 12 summarizes the papers reviewed that talk about environmental benefits.”
BackgroundWiedenhofer, D., Streeck, J., Wiese, F., Verdolini, E., Mastrucci, A., Ju, Y., Boza‐Kiss, B., Min, J., Norman, J., Wieland, H., et al. (2025) · Annual Review of Environment and Resources · doi:10.1146/annurev-environ-111523-102441 · Cited by 38
The industrial decarbonization paradigm: Carbon lock-in or path renewal in the United Kingdom?
Herman, K. S., Hall, J. K., Sovacool, B. K., & Iskandarova, M. (2025) · Ecological Economics · doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108628 · Cited by 37
Innovation in the bioeconomy: Perspectives of entrepreneurs on relevant framework conditions
Wilde, K., & Hermans, F. (2021) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127979 · Cited by 32
Boyer, M., Kusche, F., Hackfort, S., Prause, L., & Engelbrecht-Bock, F. (2022) · Sustainability Science · doi:10.1007/s11625-022-01254-4 · Cited by 26
“…keep pace with the requirements for production and consumption of goods and services (MartínezAlier 2002), due to the dramatic difference between the pace of production and density of energy inputs of fossil-based resources on the one hand and biogenic resources on the other (Giampietro 2019).”
BackgroundInfluentialKumeh, E. M., & Ramcilovic‐Suominen, S. (2023) · Sustainability Science · doi:10.1007/s11625-023-01302-7 · Cited by 33
“First, multiple studies indicate that absolute decoupling cannot be achieved globally under the logic of continuous economic growth (Giampietro 2019; Parrique et al. 2019).”
BackgroundThe bioeconomy in Germany: A failing political project?
Lühmann, M., & Vogelpohl, T. (2023) · Ecological Economics · doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2023.107783 · Cited by 37
Sustainable Production of Pigments from Cyanobacteria
Deepika, C., Wolf, J., Roles, J., Ross, I. L., & Hankamer, B. D. (2022) · Advances in biochemical engineering, biotechnology · doi:10.1007/10_2022_211 · Cited by 32
Praveen, K., Abinandan, S., Venkateswarlu, K., & Megharaj, M. (2024) · Resources Conservation and Recycling · doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.107735 · Cited by 31
Harnessing biostimulants from biogas digestates for high-value resource recovery: a review
Sani, M. N. H., Amin, M., Bergstrand, K.-J., Caspersen, S., Prade, T., & Yong, J. W. H. (2024) · Environmental Chemistry Letters · doi:10.1007/s10311-024-01801-8 · Cited by 39
The SDGs and the bio-economy: fostering land-grabbing in Africa
Ashukem, J.-C. N. (2020) · Review of African Political Economy · doi:10.1080/03056244.2019.1687086 · Cited by 29
Friedrich, J., Bunker, I., Uthes, S., & Zscheischler, J. (2021) · Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10806-021-09866-z · Cited by 29
“Giampietro (2019) argued, based on an analysis of global socio-metabolic flows, that tertiary flows (such as manure, or waste in general) depend upon primary energy sources (soil, water, air) and secondary flows (fodder, livestock).”
BackgroundInfluentialPessôa, L. C., Cruz, E. P., Deamici, K. M., Andrade, B. B., Carvalho, N. S., Vieira, S. R., da Silva, J. B. A., Pontes, L. A. M., de Souza, C. O., Druzian, J. I., et al. (2022) · Journal of environmental chemical engineering · doi:10.1016/j.jece.2022.108096 · Cited by 29
ISO 59000 Standards for the Circular Economy: a Call for Accuracy
Saizarbitoria, I. H., Boiral, O., & Testa, F. (2024) · Circular Economy and Sustainability · doi:10.1007/s43615-024-00370-w · Cited by 28
Desertification and Degradation Risks vs Poverty: A Key Topic in Mediterranean Europe
Rodrigo‐Comino, J., Salvia, R., Egidi, G., Salvati, L., Giménez‐Morera, A., & Quaranta, G. (2021) · Cuadernos de Investigación Geográfica · doi:10.18172/cig.4850 · Cited by 28
“They are intrinsically defined by a complex synergy between environmental and social drivers (Giampietro, 2019; Bekun et al., 2019).”
BackgroundThe Role of Consumers in Business Model Innovations for a Sustainable Circular Bioeconomy
Lang, S., Minnucci, G., Müller, M., & Schlaile, M. P. (2023) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su15129573 · Cited by 24
“At the same time, a BE is not sustainable per se, depending on the underlying vision or imaginary (e.g., [16–18 ,29,30 ,86 ,87 Innovation is undoubtedly a key element in the transition towards a sustainable CBE.”
BackgroundTaffuri, A., Sciullo, A., Diemer, A., & Nedelciu, C. (2021) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su13116224 · Cited by 25
Pérez-Sánchez, L. À., Velasco-Fernández, R., & Giampietro, M. (2022) · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.rser.2022.112388 · Cited by 40
Self-citationPavloudakis, F., Karlopoulos, E., & Roumpos, C. P. (2023) · The Extractive Industries and Society · doi:10.1016/j.exis.2023.101248 · Cited by 27
Spiller, M., Vingerhoets, R., Vlaeminck, S. E., Wichern, F., & Papangelou, A. (2024) · Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems · doi:10.1007/s10705-024-10339-8 · Cited by 27
“However, nutrient circularity and associated concepts (recovery and reuse, circular economy, bioeconomy) are on occasion presented as an end goal, because they solve problems of resource constraints and pollution (Giampietro 2019; Harder et al. 2021; van der Wiel et al. 2019).”
Saes, M. S. M., Saes, B. M., Feitosa, E. R. M., Poschen, P., Val, A. L., & Marcovitch, J. (2023) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su15108053 · Cited by 26
Metadata
- Authors
- Giampietro, M.
- Affiliations
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES)
- Corresponding author
- Giampietro, Mario
- ORCID
- Giampietro, Mario
- Venue
- Ecological Economics
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2019-08
- Volume
- 162
- Pages
- 143-156
- ISSN
- 0921-8009 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2943950764
- Cited by
- 376
- References
- 119
- Citations by year
- 2026: 31 · 2025: 48 · 2024: 50 · 2023: 62 · 2022: 73 · 2021: 69 · 2020: 31 · 2019: 11
- FWCI
- 95.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Ecological Economics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MDM2015-0552)
- European Commission (HORIZON2020, 689669)
- Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MDM-2015-0552)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Bioeconomy and Sustainability Development
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy
- Keywords
- circular bioeconomy, decoupling, sustainable growth, limits to growth, biophysical economics, Georgescu-Roegen, resource flows, Industrial Revolution, thermodynamic limit, social-ecological systems
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