A systematic literature review of circular economy practices, its pressures and the impacts on the company’s sustainable performance

Abstract

Climate change and how to fight it has been under discussion in the scientific world since the 20th century, with the “First Earth Summit” being held in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2015, the Paris Agreement was adopted by 195 countries with the goal to limit the increase of average global temperature until the year of 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were published for the first time. Specifically, the goal #12 who is related to the concept of Circular Economy (CE) has become also the sustainable goals that several firms are pursuing nowadays. Literature around the topic has been studying the different practices each company implements in their environment and how these practices influence the firm’s Triple Bottom Line (TBL) Performance, which includes the economic, environmental and social aspects of a firm’s performance. Additionally, literature also started studying how different pressures impacted the application of each and general Circular economy practices in the corporate environment. This SLR was aimed to bridge a gap in the literature related to CE. Through a rigorous bibliometric and content analysis of 104 articles, published between 2010 and 2024, this SLR identifies the institutional pressures that influence the adoption of key CE practices, describing and summarising the most common practices adopted, and their individual impact in each dimension of the TBL.