Strategies for circular economy in the Nordics: a comparative analysis of directionality

Abstract

In this paper we mobilize sustainability transitions literature to explore directionality for circular economy (CE) transitions, by drawing on and adapting a framework for analysing roadmaps to empirically investigate CE strategies. Specifically, this paper explores circular economy CE strategy documents in the Nordics, the commonalities and differences between them and to what extent they provide directionality for CE transitions. Through a systematic document analysis of 39 CE strategy documents, we find that the strategy documents are vague and lack clear political visions. As such, we argue that the documents fail to provide clear directionality for CE transitions and question their usefulness. Additionally, the paper demonstrates how CE strategy documents can contribute to promoting the development of industries that couple to national ambitions for the development of new, green industries.