Circular economy metrics: Literature review and company-level classification framework. (15th March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Vinante, Christian; Sacco, Pasqualina; Orzes, Guido; Borgianni, Yuri
• Is Part Of: Journal of cleaner production. Volume 288(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-03-15
• Subjects: Circular Economy -- Assessment -- Metrics -- Value Chain -- Ecodesign; Factory and trade waste -- Management -- Periodicals; Manufactures -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Déchets industriels -- Gestion -- Périodiques; Usines -- Aspect de l'environnement -- Périodiques; 628.5
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125090
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0959-6526

Abstract

Abstract: With reference to assessing Circular Economy (CE) at the firm level, available literature reviews do not clarify what and how has to be actually assessed, while many assessment methods do not take into account the latest developments in the field. Furthermore, CE indicators are not explicitly linked to the firm's organizational functions involved in CE assessment. In order to address these issues and to favor practice-oriented CE assessments at the firm level, the present paper collects and analyses CE assessment indicators at their finest level of granularity, i.e. the CE metrics. By means of a systematic literature review, the work gathers insights from 130 documents belonging to scientific and practitioners' literature, reviews existing CE metrics, and organizes them according to a new circular Value Chain framework. More in details, 365 different firm-level metrics have been identified and classified through said circular Value Chain framework, articulated into 23 categories. The vast majority of CE metrics are sufficiently general and applicable in assessment procedures irrespective of the firm size, the geographic location, the industrial domain and the selling strategy of the company. This aspect facilitates the fine-tuning of comprehensive CE assessment methods, which, as a result, can largely neglect contingency factors of the investigated firms. The framework and its categories help match CE metrics and organizational functions, thus facilitating the individuation of firms' players involved in CE assessment. As the review highlights a remarkable fragmentation of current CE assessment models and diverging interpretations of CE's scopes, further implications on research and practice are discussed. Highlights: A systematic literature review on CE assessment at firm level is presented. 365 different firm-level metrics from 130 works have been collected and classified. Starting from Porter's Value Chain (VC), a new circular VC framework is proposed. The organizational functions more involved in CE assessment are identified. The field is fragmented, and different interpretations of CE scopes are remarked.