Sustainability Narratives as Transformative Solution Pathways: Zooming in on the Circular Economy

The circular economy can be understood as one of the sustainability narratives (along with, e.g., the bioeconomy, the green economy and the sharing economy), currently relevant in academia, business and policymaking. Sustainability narratives are characterized by a distinctive set of transferable and scalable solutions, addressing resource/services use and distribution in social-ecological-technical systems. Core solutions in the circular economy are technologically-driven improvements towards reductions of inputs/outputs in production and consumption systems. However, the conceptual diversity of the circular economy is such that it can, like other sustainability narratives, serve multiple sustainability discourses (e.g., ecological modernization, sustainable development and degrowth). In order to cater to societal needs within the planet’s biophysical boundaries, the contribution of the circular economy needs to be strengthened in regard to the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems and to the just distribution of resources, opportunities and prosperity. Socio-cultural change should be understood as complementary to technology- and private sector-driven solutions. While circular economy principles are meant to be translated into tailored micro- and macro- level strategies based on context-specific characteristics and needs, the causal connections between units or geographical regions are a crucial issue for sustainability. The overall co-evolution and harmonization of multiple narratives towards coherent sustainability pathways should strive towards decreasing dependence on fossil resources, reversing biodiversity loss and ecosystems degradation and enabling a quality life for all people. The conclusions of this article provide key points that can further guide analyses and implementation of the circular economy in the context of sustainability transformations.Peer reviewe

Integrating the green economy, circular economy and bioeconomy in a strategic sustainability framework

The green economy, circular economy and bioeconomy are popular narratives in macro-level sustainability discussions in policy, scientific research and business. These three narratives offer three different recipes to address economic, social and ecological goals, thus promoting different pathways for sustainability transformations. We employ the well-known Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (The Natural Step Framework) to comparatively identify the relative and integrated contribution of the three narratives for global net sustainability. We conclude that none of the three narratives, individually, offer a comprehensive ‘package’ of solutions. However, when considered jointly as collaborative narratives, they point towards a society and economy based on renewable/reproductive and biodiversity-based/benign processes, delivering material and immaterial benefits that fulfil the economic and social requirements of all people now and in the future. While the complementary understanding of the circular economy, bioeconomy and green economy provides important guidelines for sustainability transformations post-Covid-19, there is a need for more holistic, systems-wide and integrative research work on potentially competing or supplementary sustainability narratives. This type of work of clarification and synthesis is relevant to a wide range of scholars and professionals, since the conceptual understanding of sustainability narratives informs practical implementation through strategies, actions and monitoring tools, in public and private decision-making.Peer reviewe

A review of LCA assessments of forest-based bioeconomy products and processes under an ecosystem services perspective

The emergence of politically driven bioeconomy strategies worldwide calls for considering the ecological issues associated with bio-based products. Traditionally, life cycle analysis (LCA) approaches are key tools used to assess impacts through product life cycles, but they present limitations regarding the accounting of multiple ecosystem service-related issues, at both the land-use and supply chain levels. Based on a systematic review of empirical articles, this study provides insights on using LCA assessments to account for ecosystem service-related impacts in the context of bioeconomy activities. We address the following research questions: what is the state of the art of the literature performing LCA assessments of forest-based bioeconomy activities, including the temporal distribution, the geographic areas and products/processes at study, and the approaches and methods used? 2. Which impacts and related midpoints are considered by the reviewed studies and what types of ecosystem service- related information do they bear? Out of over 600 articles found through the Scopus search, 155 were deemed relevant for the review. The literature focuses on North-America and Europe. Most of the articles assessed the environmental impact of lower-value biomass uses. Climate change was assessed in over 90% of the studies, while issues related to ozone, eutrophication, human toxicity, resource depletion, acidification, and environmental toxicity were assessed in 40% to 60% of the studies. While the impact categories accounted for in the reviewed LCA studies bear information relevant to certain provisioning and regulating services, several ecosystem services (especially cultural ones) remain unaccounted for. The implications of our study are relevant for professionals working in the ecosystem services, circular bioeconomy, and/or LCA communities. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Bioeconomy imaginaries: A review of forest-related social science literature

Correction: Early Access FEB 2022 10.1007/s13280-022-01713-3This review article examines how social science literature co-produces various imaginaries of forest-based bioeconomy transformations and pathways for reaching desired ends. Based on an analysis of 59 research articles, we find that despite a growing number of social sciences studies on the forest-based bioeconomy, much of the research tends to replicate a bioeconomy imaginary articulated in EU and national bioeconomy policies and strategies. Accordingly, the research primarily reproduces a weak approach to sustainability, which prioritize economic growth and competitiveness. Expectations are largely directed at national and regional corporate interests and forest industrial renewal, while the state has a supportive rather than restricting role. We discuss the findings against the role of social sciences, and conclude that social science scholars may adopt various strategies if interested in opening up forest-based policy debates and offer alternative imaginaries of sustainable bioeconomy transformations.Peer reviewe

Circular, Green, and Bio Economy : How Do Companies in Land-Use Intensive Sectors Align with Sustainability Concepts?

The UN Agenda 2030 deems the private sector pivotal in co-governing sustainability issues. Despite intense research on corporate sustainability there is no explicit analysis of which policy-driven concepts companies choose to forward their sustainability visions and practices. This is relevant because communication of corporate sustainability contributes to legitimizing or delegitimizing company actions, while simultaneously feeding back into public thinking and actions towards sustainability transformations. We addressed the research gap by considering three sustainability concepts mainstreamed at the global level: Circular economy (CE), Green economy (GE), and Bioeconomy (BE). Content analysis was performed on 123 reports from DJSI World companies in five land-use intensive sectors (forest, food, beverages, mining, and energy). Results suggest CE to be omnipresent and homogeneous across all companies and sectors. GE was the second most frequent concept, especially in forest and mining. BE was under-represented in all reports, with the exception of the forest sector. Interlinkages between concepts were few. The CE-BE connection appeared to be the strongest, concerning efficiency and recycling of bio-based resources. The analysis of global sustainability concepts from the perspective of corporate disclosure enables a timely discussion on the role and limits of the business organizations as a participant to sustainability transformations globally.Peer reviewe

Reviewing the interface of bioeconomy and ecosystem service research

The bioeconomy is currently being globally promoted as a sustainability avenue involving several societal actors. While the bioeconomy is broadly about the substitution of fossil resources with bio-based ones, three main (competing or complementary) bioeconomy visions are emerging in scientific literature: resource, biotechnology, and agroecology. The implementation of one or more of these visions into strategies implies changes to land use and thus ecosystem services delivery, with notable trade-offs. This review aims to explore the interdisciplinary space at the interface of these two concepts. We reviewed scientific publications explicitly referring to bioeconomy and ecosystem services in their title, abstract, or keywords, with 45 documents identified as relevant. The literature appeared to be emerging and fragmented but eight themes were discernible (in order of decreasing occurrence frequency in the literature): a. technical and economic feasibility of biomass extraction and use; b. potential and challenges of the bioeconomy; c. frameworks and tools; d. sustainability of bio-based processes, products, and services; e. environmental sustainability of the bioeconomy; f. governance of the bioeconomy; g. biosecurity; h. bioremediation. Approximately half of the documents aligned to a resource vision of the bioeconomy, with emphasis on biomass production. Agroecology and biotechnology visions were less frequently found, but multiple visions generally tended to occur in each document. The discussion highlights gaps in the current research on the topic and argues for communication between the ecosystem services and bioeconomy communities to forward both research areas in the context of sustainability science.Peer reviewe

Where communities intermingle, diversity grows - The evolution of topics in ecosystem service research

We analyze how the content of ecosystem service research has evolved since the early 1990s. Conducting a computational bibliometric content analysis we process a corpus of 14,118 peer-reviewed scientific article abstracts on ecosystem services (ES) from Web of Science records. To provide a comprehensive content analysis of ES research literature, we employ a latent Dirichlet allocation algorithm. For three different time periods (1990-2000, 2001-2010, 2011-2016), we derive nine main ES topics arising from content analysis and elaborate on how they are related over time. The results show that natural science-based ES research analyzes oceanic, freshwater, agricultural, forest, and soil ecosystems. Pollination and land cover emerge as traceable standalone topics around 2001. Social science ES literature demonstrates a reflexive and critical lens on the role of ES research and includes critiques of market-oriented perspectives. The area where social and natural science converge most is about land use systems such as agriculture. Overall, we provide evidence of the strong natural science foundation, the highly interdisciplinary nature of ES research, and a shift in social ES research towards integrated assessments and governance approaches. Furthermore, we discuss potential reasons for observable topic developments.Peer reviewe

Not so biocentric - Environmental benefits and harm associated with the acceptance of forest management objectives by future environmental professionals

It is not yet completely clear how individuals weigh positive and negative consequences of specific environmental actions to the self, others and nature, and how these evaluations are associated with the acceptance of such environmental actions. We explored how the acceptance of ecosystem service-related forest management objectives were associated with perceived positive and negative consequences, perceived knowledge of these objectives, and gender among future professionals in the bioeconomy context. We analysed a survey collected among Finnish university students majoring in agriculture and forestry, and biological and environmental sciences (N = 159). We found that environmental concerns followed a two-factor structure: concerns for humans and concerns for the environment. Perceived harm to nature and humans reduced the acceptance of timber and bioenergy objectives, but only the effect of perceived harm to humans remained when they were considered together with perceived benefits. Perceived knowledge of the objectives had little effect on acceptance of the objectives. Females endorsed the biodiversity and climate objectives more than males, whereas males endorsed timber objectives more than females. These results show that in the context of ecosystem service management, positive consequences are more important than negative when evaluating bioeconomy objectives, and that consequences to humans are more important than consequences to the environment. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

“Being one of the boys” : perspectives from female forest industry leaders on gender diversity and the future of Nordic forest-based bioeconomy

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The role of sustainability standards in the uptake of bio-based chemicals

As bio-based chemicals become more technically and financially competitive, spurring the further development of the chemical industry, they are also presented as more sustainable alternatives to petrol-based chemicals. We argue that an ad hoc and coordinated regulatory and standards framework channeling sustainability efforts would legitimize sustainability claims for bio-based products.Peer reviewe