Are circular economy policies actually reaching organizations? Evidence from the largest Spanish companies

The Circular Economy (CE) model has recently gained a lot of attention as an effective way to cope with the urgent issues related to Climate Change and sustainability. The European Union (EU) has launched a series of reports, plans and activities known as the Circular Economy package which main goal is to expand the CE model throughout Europe, with large companies leading the initiative. This paper aims at assessing their engagement with the CE model, and if their actual understanding, practice and reporting of CE corresponds to the standards and principles promoted by the EU CE Action Plan. The research does also analyse if large companies’ reporting in terms of CE can be assimilated to their environmental sustainability reporting or if they consider it a different topic, with different drivers. The reports of the largest companies in Spain (IBEX35) were studied in full detail as well as their environmental scores (ESG) from DataStream database, and activity sector. Results show interesting implications highlighting how companies’ perception over CE, as reported, differs from the EU CE Action Plan approach and from the environmental sustainability framework, especially when taking into account the type of activity

Definition and measurement of the circular economy’s regional impact

It has been argued that the circular economy (CE) represents an opportunity to achieve a paradigm shift in territory from the current linear model to a low-carbon, zero-waste economy. In this context, the implementation of the CE is holistically analysed to measure its impact and contribute to the debate about regional environmental management from the different perspectives of society, public administrations, and the private sector. Through a qualitative case study of a Spanish region, the main barriers of CE, such as the lack of funding for undertaking investments and the supply of recycled products, are identified, and the organisation of a waste-exchange system between companies or awareness campaigns concerning the CE are considered relevant incentives to be included in regional planning and management. This study confirms the economic and social win for CE that will be more effective as more CE activities are implemented at regional level