Circular economy as an essentially contested concept
Open accessAbstract
The Circular Economy (CE) is currently a popular notion within the policy and business advocacy groups. Despite being visionary and provocative in its message, the research on the CE concept is emerging. The two intertwined objectives of the paper are; first to identify, discuss and develop the various definitions provided by the emerging literature. Secondly, to suggest an initial research approach with which research on CE can be conducted. Our analysis shows that the existing CE work is mainly done on the practical and technical levels of the actual physical flows of materials and energy in production-consumption systems. The focus of the extant literature is on concrete metrics, tools, instruments and computations. Therefore, the basic assumptions concerning the values, societal structures, cultures, underlying world-views and the paradigmatic potential of CE remain largely unexplored. We argue that CE has already become what Gallie (1955) more than six decades ago termed as an “essentially contested concept” (ECC). The paper further suggests a model for CE research that helps in the categorization, classification and organization of research and investigation on CE. The model can help in limiting the observed unbalance and enhance the contribution of the CE approach to a more sustainable global society.
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Existing definitions of circular economy can be grouped into two lines of thought: EMAF-based definitions and definitions developed by other researchers.
“The existing definitions of circular economy found in literature can technically be grouped into two lines of thoughts: based on the description provided by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMAF) and based on definitions developed by other researchers, as summarized in Table 1 in Korhonen et al. (2018) recent work.”
From Circular Bioeconomy Concepts—A Perspective (2021) · cites this paper as Korhonen et al., 2018
Section 2.2 explicitly groups the definitions into those adopting the Ellen MacArthur Foundation definition and those based on research or other researchers’ definitions. The citing sentence points to Table 1 in Korhonen et al., but the passage identifies Table 3 as the table showing these definitions. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe limitations associated with the circular economy are primary emphases on economic and environmental gains while neglecting the social dimension to any significant extent.
“On the other hand, the limitations associated with the circular economy are the primary emphases on economic and environmental gains while neglecting the social dimension to any significant extent (Kirchherr et al., 2017; D'Amato et al., 2018; Korhonen et al., 2018).”
From Circular Bioeconomy Concepts—A Perspective (2021) · cites this paper as Korhonen et al., 2018
The Introduction (page unavailable) describes the policy and business vision of circular economy chiefly in terms of environmental and economic development, supporting the claimed emphasis. But section 4 (page unavailable) says the sharing economy brings the social dimension to the forefront of circular-economy debates; the paper therefore does not support saying that dimension is neglected to any significant extent. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredCircular economy has become an 'essentially contested concept' with agreement on the means and goals of the concept but disagreements on how it is defined.
“It has basically become an 'essentially contested concept, ' a phrase coined by Gallie (1956) in which there is agreement on the means and goals of the concept but disagreements on how it is defined; it has recently been used to characterize the circular economy concept (Korhonen et al., 2018).”
From Circular Bioeconomy Concepts—A Perspective (2021) · cites this paper as Korhonen et al., 2018
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- Authors
- Korhonen, J., Nuur, C., Feldmann, A., & Birkie, S. E.
- Affiliations
- KTH Royal Institute of Technology (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Feldmann, Andreas
- Venue
- Journal of Cleaner Production
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-02
- Volume
- 175
- Pages
- 544-552
- ISSN
- 0959-6526 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2778700599
- Cited by
- 1,568
- References
- 69
- Citations by year
- 2026: 160 · 2025: 191 · 2024: 236 · 2023: 227 · 2022: 253 · 2021: 221 · 2020: 158 · 2019: 95 · 2018: 27
- FWCI
- 152.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Cleaner Production (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- KTH Publication Database DiVA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (E5022)
- Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation (MMW 2013.194)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Sustainable Supply Chain Management
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering › Sustainable Industrial Ecology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Sustainable Development and Environmental Management
- Keywords
- circular economy, essentially contested concepts, research framework, sustainable development, material and energy flows
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