Perspectives on the concepts of the circular economy and circular bioeconomy

Knut Ingar Westeren

Chapter 2 in Research Handbook of Innovation in the Circular Bioeconomy, 2025, pp 15-32 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter aims to provide a discussion on how circular reasoning and circular concepts have emerged and developed in economic science, together with discussions on sustainability and ecology. These concepts have been taken up from several scientific traditions, but here we only adhere to the economics platform. The main discussion has been, and still is, if a traditional market economy can develop from a linear to a circular paradigm without changing the market economy fundamentals. We divide the analysis into periods, with the most fundamental in the sustainability discussions coming in the 1970s/80s with the Meadows (1972) report and the Brundtland Commission (UN 1987). This paves the way for the circular economy concept that appears in a reasonably consistent form in the 2010s.

Keywords: Circular economy; Circular bioeconomy; Conceptual framework; Innovation; Circular paradigm; Historical analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035307951
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