The Brussels and California Effects? Circular Economy Policy Influence Across Borders

Nancy Bocken (), Matthew Coffay and Carl Dalhammar
Additional contact information
Nancy Bocken: Maastricht University
Matthew Coffay: NHH Norwegian School of Economics
Carl Dalhammar: Lund University

Circular Economy and Sustainability, 2025, vol. 5, issue 3, 1665-1688

Abstract: Abstract The influence of environmental policy has been known to move beyond the country or regional contexts in which they have been implemented. Examples in literature include the “California effect” and the “Brussels effect”, showing how the policies adopted in the EU and California influence other jurisdictions. In this paper we study the following: To what extent are companies operating in the United States influenced by circular economy policies outside their direct context? By interviewing companies operating in the United States, we find that firms are influenced by and actively work to influence circular economy policy, both as it originates from outside the United States (the Brussels effect, referring to policies in Europe) and from within the United States (such as the California effect). Key barriers to circular innovation include the lack of a comprehensive policy framework in the U.S., opposition from competitors, and making the business model work in the U.S. legal context. Strategies to overcome these include: getting legal support for circular business models, developing U.S. regulations, level the playing field for all U.S.-based companies, lobbying for supporting regulation, and collaboration. We find that EV battery recycling is a positive exception where U.S. policy provides clarity for circular innovation. Finally, we find that the characteristics of the ‘typical’ U.S. consumer may call for specific circular business models. We suggest future research to enhance our understanding on how policy might positively drive circular economy innovations in international companies.

Keywords: Environmental policy; Circular economy policy; Innovation; Circular economy; Brussels effect; California effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s43615-025-00516-4 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:circec:v:5:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s43615-025-00516-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer.com/journal/43615

DOI: 10.1007/s43615-025-00516-4

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Circular Economy and Sustainability from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().