Energy and the Circular Economy: How to fill the integration gap?

The Circular Economy can be seen in a broader NEXUS framework, in which the relationships between the CE transition, the decarbonization transition, and the bioeconomy transition are at the core of sustainability strategies and policies. The CE can save large amounts of energy in ‘closing the material loops’ (recycling), but the net effects of business models in the ‘slowing down’ and ‘narrowing’ loops (e.g. sharing economy) can be uncertain depending on technologies or systemic effects. Energy production within the CE loops is still much based on virgin biomaterials, which can have more value in innovative non-energy uses (e.g. green chemistry), while the production of energy from waste arising from ‘closing the loops’ is limited also as a consequence of EU policies. The development of ‘integrated’ CEenergy business models can be needed to get the opportunities arising from the increasing CEenergy integration expected from the EGD.