Modesty as a Condition for Circular Economy Transition Success
Corvellec, Hervé LU
(2022)
- Abstract
- Modesty as a Condition for Circular Economy Transition Success
The Promise and Challenges of a Circular Economy Transition
The circular economy offers much promise. Circularity is meant to be a pathway to material efficiency, energy transitions, green jobs, profitable business opportunities, reduced volatility in price of inputs, secured supplies of critical materials, increased customer experiences, and sustainable growth. These myriad promises explain why the circular economy has become a central principle for the development of businesses, cities, regions, and countries.
Circular economists fundamentally believe that linearity is the key problem of the current economic system. And even if the current economy... (More) - Modesty as a Condition for Circular Economy Transition Success
The Promise and Challenges of a Circular Economy Transition
The circular economy offers much promise. Circularity is meant to be a pathway to material efficiency, energy transitions, green jobs, profitable business opportunities, reduced volatility in price of inputs, secured supplies of critical materials, increased customer experiences, and sustainable growth. These myriad promises explain why the circular economy has become a central principle for the development of businesses, cities, regions, and countries.
Circular economists fundamentally believe that linearity is the key problem of the current economic system. And even if the current economy remains mostly linear, the circular economy has the potential to change material things. Linearity’s dominance is proof that a circular transition requires action and effectuation. Barriers to circular economic transition implementation, however, are broad and extensive. For example:
Technical challenges to generalize circular design
Lack of private and public financier interest of financiers for circular investments
Cultural resistance in organizations to circular innovation
Lack of consumer willingness to pay for circularity and engage with reverse logistics
Use of toxic substances and contamination of materials
Conflicts of interests along the value chain
Legislation tuned to linearity
This non-exhaustive list shows the complexity of the challenges that a circular transition must overcome. To address these challenges, I suggest taking a step back and adopting a more modest understanding of the circular economy.
Supporting a Circular Transition through Modesty
This modesty could start with being transparent about the goals or wants for achieving transition toward circularity. For example, apparel producers could explain whether they enter the circular economy to secure a long-term growth in supply of cotton fibers, or to reduce the negative environmental impact of the mass cultivation of cotton. A circular economy does not need to solve all problems, but it needs to be clear about which problems it aims to solve. This would help determine the scope of its relevance for strategies and policies.
Actors could be more concrete about their actual contribution to a circular economy transition. This clarity sets the stage for better measurement and assessments. An effective circular transition requires significant collaboration of actors across the value chain. This coalescence sets the stage for actors to clarify how they contribute to circularity. This clarification makes it easier for investors, managers, consumers, and regulators to assess whether the circular economy delivers circular value or not and keep circular washing at bay.
Circular economy advocates tend to avoid discussing drawbacks of a circular transition. For example: not all circular jobs will be clean jobs; a redirection of secondary material flows within industrial countries will deprive developing countries from exporting resources; and consumers will need to renounce newness. Advocates should acknowledge that some actors will benefit more than others from a transition toward circularity. Making challenges to a circular economy clear is an important step to modesty and addressing potential ills of a circular economy transition, and to help increase its inclusiveness and ability to be evaluated.
Finally, a modest circular economy would not consider linearity as the only explanation to the problems of the current economic system. We need to allow for a combination of multiple explanations for problems with the current systems. For instance, problems should include the thesis that the planet cannot continue to carry the current level of material and energy throughputs and is therefore in need of degrowth. Likewise, solutions could include the thesis that private ownership can be less beneficial for the environment than commons-based governance. These additional theses put linearity in a context, -further clarifying the limits of a circular transition.
Maintaining Modesty
By promising too much, the circular economy runs the risk of diluting the potential value of circularity. Too many and too large promises make it difficult to single out what the circular economy is capable of achieving—or not—for people and the environment.
If decision-makers and consumers cannot assess if outcomes correspond to expectations, there will be a risk that they become circular-skeptics and turn away from circularity altogether. If they do turn away, successful transition is unlikely, with the circular economy ending up on the shelve of past economic fashions.
Note: This blog develops ideas originally introduced in the conclusion of: Hervé Corvellec, Alison Stowell & Nils Johansson (2022). Critiques of the circular economy. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 26(2), 421-432. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jiec.13187 (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/51b6ae1e-378a-46bc-b329-3c0ed7676a2e
- author
- Corvellec, Hervé
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022-08-31
- type
- Other contribution
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Circular economy, Modesty, Degrowth
- categories
- Popular Science
- publisher
- Future Earth
- project
- Circular North Sea Regions - Improving Governance for the Circular Economy
- Relations in Circular Business Models
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 51b6ae1e-378a-46bc-b329-3c0ed7676a2e
- alternative location
- https://sscp.futureearth.org/2022/09/01/modesty-as-a-condition-for-circular-economy-transition-success/
- date added to LUP
- 2022-09-08 10:36:23
- date last changed
- 2022-09-09 02:36:56
@misc{51b6ae1e-378a-46bc-b329-3c0ed7676a2e,
abstract = {{Modesty as a Condition for Circular Economy Transition Success<br/><br/>The Promise and Challenges of a Circular Economy Transition<br/><br/>The circular economy offers much promise. Circularity is meant to be a pathway to material efficiency, energy transitions, green jobs, profitable business opportunities, reduced volatility in price of inputs, secured supplies of critical materials, increased customer experiences, and sustainable growth. These myriad promises explain why the circular economy has become a central principle for the development of businesses, cities, regions, and countries.<br/><br/>Circular economists fundamentally believe that linearity is the key problem of the current economic system. And even if the current economy remains mostly linear, the circular economy has the potential to change material things. Linearity’s dominance is proof that a circular transition requires action and effectuation. Barriers to circular economic transition implementation, however, are broad and extensive. For example:<br/><br/> Technical challenges to generalize circular design<br/> Lack of private and public financier interest of financiers for circular investments<br/> Cultural resistance in organizations to circular innovation<br/> Lack of consumer willingness to pay for circularity and engage with reverse logistics<br/> Use of toxic substances and contamination of materials<br/> Conflicts of interests along the value chain<br/> Legislation tuned to linearity<br/><br/>This non-exhaustive list shows the complexity of the challenges that a circular transition must overcome. To address these challenges, I suggest taking a step back and adopting a more modest understanding of the circular economy.<br/><br/>Supporting a Circular Transition through Modesty<br/><br/>This modesty could start with being transparent about the goals or wants for achieving transition toward circularity. For example, apparel producers could explain whether they enter the circular economy to secure a long-term growth in supply of cotton fibers, or to reduce the negative environmental impact of the mass cultivation of cotton. A circular economy does not need to solve all problems, but it needs to be clear about which problems it aims to solve. This would help determine the scope of its relevance for strategies and policies.<br/><br/>Actors could be more concrete about their actual contribution to a circular economy transition. This clarity sets the stage for better measurement and assessments. An effective circular transition requires significant collaboration of actors across the value chain. This coalescence sets the stage for actors to clarify how they contribute to circularity. This clarification makes it easier for investors, managers, consumers, and regulators to assess whether the circular economy delivers circular value or not and keep circular washing at bay.<br/><br/>Circular economy advocates tend to avoid discussing drawbacks of a circular transition. For example: not all circular jobs will be clean jobs; a redirection of secondary material flows within industrial countries will deprive developing countries from exporting resources; and consumers will need to renounce newness. Advocates should acknowledge that some actors will benefit more than others from a transition toward circularity. Making challenges to a circular economy clear is an important step to modesty and addressing potential ills of a circular economy transition, and to help increase its inclusiveness and ability to be evaluated.<br/><br/>Finally, a modest circular economy would not consider linearity as the only explanation to the problems of the current economic system. We need to allow for a combination of multiple explanations for problems with the current systems. For instance, problems should include the thesis that the planet cannot continue to carry the current level of material and energy throughputs and is therefore in need of degrowth. Likewise, solutions could include the thesis that private ownership can be less beneficial for the environment than commons-based governance. These additional theses put linearity in a context, -further clarifying the limits of a circular transition.<br/><br/>Maintaining Modesty<br/><br/>By promising too much, the circular economy runs the risk of diluting the potential value of circularity. Too many and too large promises make it difficult to single out what the circular economy is capable of achieving—or not—for people and the environment.<br/><br/>If decision-makers and consumers cannot assess if outcomes correspond to expectations, there will be a risk that they become circular-skeptics and turn away from circularity altogether. If they do turn away, successful transition is unlikely, with the circular economy ending up on the shelve of past economic fashions.<br/><br/> <br/><br/>Note: This blog develops ideas originally introduced in the conclusion of: Hervé Corvellec, Alison Stowell & Nils Johansson (2022). Critiques of the circular economy. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 26(2), 421-432. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jiec.13187}},
author = {{Corvellec, Hervé}},
keywords = {{Circular economy; Modesty; Degrowth}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{08}},
publisher = {{Future Earth}},
title = {{Modesty as a Condition for Circular Economy Transition Success}},
url = {{https://sscp.futureearth.org/2022/09/01/modesty-as-a-condition-for-circular-economy-transition-success/}},
year = {{2022}},
}