Accelerating the transition to a circular economy through impactful and actionable research

The report analyzes 57 SEI projects from 2010-2021, finding a heavy concentration in circular bioeconomy, solid waste, and water management, primarily in Europe and Asia. It identifies critical knowledge gaps in impact assessment, just transition, business models, and consumer behavior, recommending a shift toward higher-priority circularity strategies (refuse and rethink) and transdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder collaborations.

• SEI's circular economy (CE) portfolio is concentrated in three primary clusters: circular bioeconomy (22 projects), circular solid waste management (15 projects), and circular water management (8 projects), which together comprise 79% of the 57 identified projects.
• SEI research focuses predominantly on lower-priority circularity strategies such as reusing, recycling, and recovery, while completely lacking projects that address the highest-priority strategies of 'refuse' and 'rethink'.
• Geographically, SEI's CE projects are most frequent in Europe (29 projects, specifically Estonia and Sweden) and Asia (13 projects), with 12 in Africa and only two in Latin America, and none in North America.
• Significant knowledge gaps exist regarding the social and economic impacts of CE, specifically the need to link CE with 'just transition' frameworks to address inequalities, gender roles, and the impacts on the informal waste sector.
• There is a critical need for research into the 'business case' for CE, including market feasibility, the profitability of circular approaches, and the role of small and medium-sized enterprises in accelerating the transition.
• A gap exists between CE and sustainable consumption research; future agendas should explore consumer habits, behavioral change, and the accessibility of sustainable products to move toward 'refusing' and 'reducing' consumption.
• The report recommends a future research agenda based on transdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder collaborations that move beyond governmental silos and sectoral borders to provide evidence-based decision support for policymakers.

APA

Rezaie, S., Englund, M., Vanhuyse, F., Melati, K., Jintarith, P., Nikam, J., & Fadhila, A. (2022). Accelerating the transition to a circular economy through impactful and actionable research. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/accelerating-the-transition-to-a-circular-economy.pdf

Chicago

Rezaie, Shogofa, Mathilda Englund, Fedra Vanhuyse, Kuntum Melati, Pimolporn Jintarith, Jaee Nikam, and Audinisa Fadhila. Accelerating the transition to a circular economy through impactful and actionable research. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2022. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/accelerating-the-transition-to-a-circular-economy.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{rezaie2022accelerating, author = {Rezaie, Shogofa and Englund, Mathilda and Vanhuyse, Fedra and Melati, Kuntum and Jintarith, Pimolporn and Nikam, Jaee and Fadhila, Audinisa}, title = {{Accelerating the transition to a circular economy through impactful and actionable research}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2022}, month = mar, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/accelerating-the-transition-to-a-circular-economy.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }