Aligning Circular Economy and Climate Policy in Europe

Definitions

In the last years, the concept of circular economy has gained interest among researchers and policy makers. At a time when the scarcity of natural resources is becoming increasingly evident, the concept of “circular economy” has emerged in contrast to “linear economy.” The need to move into a more sustainable economic system has prompted policy makers and academics to find alternatives to the current “take-make-dispose” or linear economy, defined as an economy that turns natural resources into waste, via production; and that type of production leads to the deterioration of the environment through the removal of resources from the environment and creating pollution from waste (Murray et al. 2017).

Although the definition of circular economy has been widely contested and there are dozens of definitions (Kirchherr et al. 2018; Korhonen et al. 2018; Skene 2018), it can be described as an:

Economic system that is based on business models which replace the ‘end-of-life’ concept...