Circular Economy Solutions for a Sustainable Future
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 April 2026 | Viewed by 56
Special Issue Editors
Interests: life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA); environmental and social life cycle assessment (LCA and S-LCA); circular economy; sustainable development; climate change mitigation; sustainable urban systems; sustainable supply chains
Interests: life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA); environmental and social life cycle assessment (LCA & S-LCA); circular economy; climate change mitigation; sustainable food systems
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The transition toward sustainability requires innovative and systemic approaches that address the environmental, social, and economic challenges of our time. Circular Economy (CE) has emerged as a promising paradigm that promotes resource efficiency, waste reduction, and the regeneration of natural systems. When integrated with Life Cycle Thinking (LCT), CE strategies can significantly contribute to sustainable production and consumption patterns, climate change mitigation, and social well-being.
This Special Issue, “Circular Economy Solutions for a Sustainable Future”, seeks to provide a platform for cutting-edge research that explores how circular strategies—supported by tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA), social LCA (S-LCA), and life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA)—can drive sustainable innovation across sectors and regions.
This Special Issue aligns with Sustainability’s interdisciplinary focus and aims to collect original research, reviews, and case studies that offer theoretical advancements, methodological contributions, or practical implementations of circular economy principles.
In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following:
- Circular economy strategies and metrics;
- Circular business models and product-service systems;
- Eco-design and sustainable product development;
- Industrial symbiosis and resource valorisation;
- Circularity in cities, infrastructure, and urban systems;
- Public policy and governance for circular transitions;
- Social innovation and inclusive circular economy;
- Case studies from the Global South and emerging economies;
- Tools, indicators, and frameworks to measure circularity and sustainability;
- Circular food systems.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Alejandro Padilla-Rivera
Dr. Adriana Rivera Huerta
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- circular economy
- life cycle assessment
- social LCA
- LCSA
- eco-design
- sustainable development
- climate change mitigation
- industrial ecology
- sustainability transitions
- circular business models
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