Towards a sustainable circular economy: a systematic literature review of its implementation in business

Abstract

The circular economy (CE) is a new paradigm that helps create convergence into a more sustainable society. This chapter shows the main findings of a systematic literature review examining the state of the art of the business concept of sustainability and CE and how scholars have focused on the implementation of circular and sustainable principles in sectors and firms. The main findings show a lack of consensus on definitions related to CE, creating confusion among firms. Final findings also show the challenges that businesses face and the main obstacles that explain why some organisations fail in the transition. Additionally, this review helps to highlight the main research gaps on the topic to encourage sustainability and circularity among firms. Whilst there are an increasing number of papers related to circularity and supply chains, few papers concern with dematerialising products and services. Another gap is the lack of quantitative studies measuring the impact of transitioning to sustainable and circular economies.