Circular Economy Indicators as a Supporting Tool for European Regional Development Policies
1
Faculty of Management, AGH University of Science and Technology, 30-059 Krakow, Poland
2
Institute of Geography and Spatial Management, Faculty of Geography and Geology, Jagiellonian University, 31-007 Kraków, Poland
3
Department of Applications of Mathematics in Economics, AGH University of Science and Technology, 30-059 Krakow, Poland
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2019, 11(11), 3025; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11113025
Received: 7 April 2019 / Revised: 20 May 2019 / Accepted: 22 May 2019 / Published: 28 May 2019
(This article belongs to the Section Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability)
The current research proposes a system of possible indicators for evaluating progress towards circular economy (CE) at the regional level in European Union countries. This was accomplished through desktop research examining potential CE indicators and approaches to monitoring, worldwide or at the country level, and possibilities for adapting such approaches to European regions. The study has shown that existing tools for monitoring are inadequate for tracking the progress of CE transition at the regional level. Based on those findings, it is possible to propose principles for designing CE indicators, types of indicators, their main characteristics and sources for data collection. The study also presents a case study for tracking CE progress, applying the proposed CE indicators to the Malopolska region in southern Poland. However, comparing CE progress between different European regions may not be feasible because of the limits of data availability. Additional indicators should be identified at the regional level to increase the quality of proposed areas of CE monitoring. Nevertheless, analysing CE indexes for various regions could offer a valuable method for distinguishing regional leaders in CE development to serve as useful examples, while determining which regions need to intensify their efforts toward such a transition.
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Keywords:
circular economy; evaluation indicators; principal component analysis; regional development
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MDPI and ACS Style
Avdiushchenko, A.; Zając, P. Circular Economy Indicators as a Supporting Tool for European Regional Development Policies. Sustainability 2019, 11, 3025.
AMA Style
Avdiushchenko A, Zając P. Circular Economy Indicators as a Supporting Tool for European Regional Development Policies. Sustainability. 2019; 11(11):3025.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAvdiushchenko, Anna; Zając, Paweł. 2019. "Circular Economy Indicators as a Supporting Tool for European Regional Development Policies" Sustainability 11, no. 11: 3025.
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