Financing the Digital Circular Economy: Business Models, Risk, and Economic Perspectives in Industry 5.0

A special issue of Journal of Risk and Financial Management (ISSN 1911-8074). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainability and Finance".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2026) | Viewed by 1354

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Centre for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS), 44789 Bochum, Germany
2. Department of Management and Marketing, Pryazovskyi State Technical University, 49000 Dnipro, Ukraine
Interests: risk management & assessmentsustainability studies; environmentally sustainable development; transnational repression; industrial production; renewable resources; circular economy

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Guest Editor
Business Innovation Laboratory, Mykolas Romeris University, Ateities St. 20, LT-08303 Vilnius, Lithuania
Interests: social responsibility; energy economy; circular economy; consumer behavior; economic security
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The move towards a circular economy is not only a technological or environmental transition—it is also a financial and economic transformation. Businesses adopting circular strategies must rethink how they create and capture value, while investors, financial institutions, and policymakers face new challenges in assessing risks, allocating capital, and supporting sustainable growth. At the same time, digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, IoT, and data analytics are shaping new forms of financing, risk management, and performance evaluation.

This Special Issue of JRFM is an attempt to bring together cutting-edge research that explores the intersection of circular economy and digital innovation, highlighting both the economic opportunities and the financial, managerial, and regulatory risks involved.

We particularly encourage contributions that combine strong theoretical foundations with practical insights for business, investors, and politics.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

  • Financing models and investment strategies for circular and digitally enabled businesses.
  • Risk assessment, valuation, and performance measurement of circular economy projects.
  • The role of capital markets, banks, and venture capital in supporting Industry 5.0 business models.
  • Digital finance and FinTech solutions (e.g., blockchain, tokenization, green bonds) as enablers of circular innovation.
  • Case studies linking digital transformation, financial performance, and circular strategies.
  • Policy, governance, and regulatory frameworks for financing sustainability transitions.

The aim of this Special Issue is to bridge business finance, economics, and digital innovation in order to better understand how financial systems can accelerate the transition to a digital circular economy while ensuring competitiveness, resilience, and long-term value creation.

Dr. Tetiana Gorokhova
Prof. Dr. Zaneta Simanaviciene
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • business finance, circular economy
  • digital transformation
  • risk and investment
  • Industry 5.0
  • sustainable business models
  • FinTech
  • economic resilience

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

26 pages, 572 KB  
Article
Financing Post-War Circular Reconstruction: Digital Tools and Investment Pathways for Ukraine’s Industrial Regions
by Tetiana Gorokhova and Žaneta Simanavičienė
J. Risk Financial Manag. 2026, 19(4), 293; https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm19040293 - 18 Apr 2026
Viewed by 847
Abstract
Ukraine’s reconstruction, estimated at $524 billion over the next decade, presents an unprecedented opportunity to embed circular economy principles into industrial rebuilding, but the financial architecture currently deployed for reconstruction is structurally blind to circular outcomes. This paper examines how digital tools and [...] Read more.
Ukraine’s reconstruction, estimated at $524 billion over the next decade, presents an unprecedented opportunity to embed circular economy principles into industrial rebuilding, but the financial architecture currently deployed for reconstruction is structurally blind to circular outcomes. This paper examines how digital tools and innovative financing mechanisms can channel investment toward circular industrial reconstruction in Ukraine, drawing on Germany’s National Circular Economy Strategy (NCES, adopted December 2024) as a reference model. A comparative institutional analysis combines a documentary review of Ukrainian reconstruction policy frameworks (Ukraine Plan 2024–2027, RDNA4, Ukraine Facility) and German NCES instruments with the construction of a financing−technology pathway typology. Five pathways are proposed: circular bond issuance with Digital Product Passport integration; blended finance with blockchain impact verification; EU Facility conditionality with AI-driven resource management; war risk insurance with circular construction standards; and SME digitalisation credit with circular economy competency building. Each pathway is assessed against five criteria: investment scale, risk mitigation, circular measurement, digital readiness, and institutional feasibility, and applied to four industrial corridors (Dnipro region, Zaporizhzhia region, Kharkiv region, and Donetsk region). The analysis reveals that no single pathway is sufficient; a layered strategy differentiating by region is required. Digital tools, particularly the Digital Product Passport and blockchain traceability, serve as partial substitutes for institutional trust in post-conflict settings, reducing information asymmetry between investors and project operators. The paper contributes a practically oriented framework at the under-theorised intersection of post-conflict reconstruction finance and circular economy scholarship. Full article
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