PROJECT PRESENTATION
Introduction of Quantitative, Multi-level Monitoring of the Transition to a Circular Economy
The main challenge of the circular economy concept lies in its complexity, making it not yet clearly measurable. This poses difficulties in monitoring its condition, development, and effectiveness. Systemically, the circular economy concept is divided into micro (companies and products), meso (industrial clusters and value chains), and macro (cities, regions, countries, global systems) levels.
The main goal of the project is to develop a concept and methodology for implementing multi-level and multi-criteria monitoring of the transition to a circular economy. This would enable coordinated monitoring of circularity at the company, municipal, and national levels.
Section 1: Review of Existing Indicator Systems
A comprehensive analysis will be conducted on the systems used to monitor progress in the transition to a circular economy currently implemented in Slovenia and other EU countries.
Section 2: Introduction of Quantitative, Multi-level Monitoring of the Transition to a Circular Economy in Slovenia
Implementation of structured circularity monitoring across all three levels:
The proposed structure is: goals → categories → indicators → metrics → category indices → overall circularity index.
Section 3: Demonstration Cases and Communication Activities
Demonstration of the proposed circularity monitoring at a specific level through the presentation of case studies.
Section 4: Development of a Prototype Calculator Tool for Data Analysis and Visualization
Development of a spreadsheet-based computational tool for conducting case studies and preparing a general calculator for all three levels.
So far, various indicators, metrics, and measures have been developed for monitoring the circular economy. These were mostly designed for specific levels, but their connections and impacts on other levels are not clearly defined, making the monitoring of the transition to a circular economy challenging.
The project outcomes include an original scientific article and online calculators for assessing circularity. Specifically, calculators for assessing circularity at the company level, a calculator for the statistical region level, and a calculator for the national level were created. The calculators are available HERE (in Slovene only).
