The appeal of the circular economy revisited: on track for transformative change or enabler of moral licensing?

Abstract

Abstract The proposal of an economy that is circular and without the need for material or energy input has an irresistible appeal to those who recognize the precautionary concept of planetary boundaries and acknowledge that resources are limited. Thus, in the public discourse, its narrative outperforms other lines of arguments when it comes to keeping radical critics of destructive extractivism and the growth imperative in check and averting discussion of degrowth, post-growth, or other systemic alternatives by larger segments of the population and government bodies. Moreover, the myth of a circular economy has the additional benefit that it can win over parts of the environmental movement that is apprehensive of radical and transformative change, particularly in the urban milieus of a middle class that enjoys the privileges of the current social order. In this paper, I argue that the circular economy narrative tends to hinder the necessary systemic transformation while entailing a wide range of specific measures that deserve to be recognized for their merit.