Profiles of the circular economy in the strategic framework of the European Union

The contribution highlights profiles of the circular economy starting from Boulding’s famous 1966 article on the circular economy. Further reference concerns Ellen MacArthur, who, in 2010 created a foundation to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy. In the European context, the concept of the circular economy first appeared between the 1990s and the early 2000s, since in those years, the strategic objective of the EU was to become a more competitive knowledge-based economy capable of achieving sustainable economic growth. Among the threats to Sustainable Development are the loss of biodiversity and the increase in waste. In more recent years, the circular economy has become one of the most significant stages of the European Union. In 2015, the European Commission COM (2015) “The Missing Link” EU Action Plan for the circular economy, the first strategy for the circular economy, was identified to make circular the final part of the product life cycle. In 2019, the European Commission’s COM (2019) outlined and adopted a Green Deal for the EU and its citizens, mobilising industry for a clean economy to achieve zero climate impact circular economy goals. In 2020, the European Commission presented a second strategy for the circular economy: A new circular economy action plan for a cleaner and more competitive Europe (COM) (2020). The transition to a circular economy has both economic and environmental implications. One of the potential opportunities of the circular economy is the reduction of pressures on the environment. This research focuses on the environmental profile.