The DOI matches its Crossref record; 116 of the 119 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
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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Citations
Cites
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Digitalization and energy consumption. Does ICT reduce energy demand?
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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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