Circular economy changes the society. We need monitoring in order to ensure a just transition into the circular economy. Monitoring is also required to monitor the impacts of circular economy actions.
The transition to and impacts of the circular economy can be assessed from social, economic and environmental perspectives. In the assessment, we can use tools, such as life cycle analysis (LCA) or socio-economic methods. We can also use different indicators to visualize trends.
Indicators
The degree of circularity in the economy can be measured for example from the consumption of materials as well as production and recycling of waste. Indicators may acknowledge the economic activity, employment, or value added.
Circular economy indicators can be monitored nationally or regionally, but also in individual businesses, organizations, or activities. Monitoring different circularity indicators can show us the extent of the de-coupling of economic growth from the consumption of materials.
In Circwaste project, we develop calculation methods for circular economy indicators as well as provide regions and municipalities with estimations for the progress of the circular economy.
More information
- Researcher Tiina Karppinen, Finnish Environment Institute SYKE, firstname.lastname@syke.fi