Circular Economy Principles and Their Influence on Attitudes to Consume Green Products in the Fashion Industry

Designing circular economy (CE) implies the adoption of a set of circular principles that support a society for the future. Understanding how CE principles influence attitudes to consume green products is a key factor aligned with consumer trends. This chapter aims to study how CE principles influence attitudes to consume green products in a particular case of fashion industry. Very few empirical studies on the perceptions of the fashion “users” exist. This chapter aims to bring some inputs to this topic. The methodology uses a path analysis study based on a sample of 110 respondents collected in a higher education institution in Portugal. The estimated model allows to test the relation between a set of variables, and the study reveals that: CE principles have a direct effect on the attitudes on the green products consumption in fashion industry in the sample considered.

Organic Food Production and Consumption Policies and Strategies

This chapter aims to analyze the main factors of the production and consumption of organic products, as well as their policies and strategies. The analysis is based on the premise of the sustainable development of the production, distribution, and consumption systems of organic products that have the potential to improve the quality of life levels of producers, consumers, and society. It is concluded that the production and consumption of organic food is based on a more favorable agriculture of the ecological and the environment, as well as by providing more nutritious and healthy food for consumption.

Territory Democratization and Institutional Design in Urban Green Innovation

This chapter has the objective to analyze the elements of urban green innovation based on the guarantee of the public interest to decentralize the infrastructure to democratize the territory and innovate the institutional design to address the complexity of the challenges in the city. The method employed is the critical analysis supported by a review of the literature and consultation of experts in the field. It is concluded that the urban green innovation capacity planning has a critical role in urban innovation development in specific areas of economic growth, social inclusion and equality, environmental sustainability, health, education, business, etc. To achieve these aims, urban green innovation requires one to guarantee the public interest, the democratization of the territory, and the new institutional design.

Circular Economy

Humanity and planet Earth have no long-term future unless there is a commitment to respect and to live within its ecological boundaries, which demands a transition from the prevailing economic system, the linear economic system, to another that is circular. The construction sector is one that requires high resources in terms of energy, water, and raw materials, generating waste and harmful atmospheric emissions. This chapter aims to analyse consumers, architects, and construction companies' awareness, challenges, and enablers in the implementation of circular economy (CE). Secondary data as well as primary data in the form of interviews and questionnaires were applied in a building construction sector in Panama. Six hundred and fifty valid questionnaires were collected. The results show that respondents are aware of the circular economy concept, but not of all circular economy principles. Few would be willing to pay for its implementation. Several challenges were also highlighted, bringing to light the importance of policymakers' roles for CE implementation.

Repair Café Porto

This chapter analyses Repair Café Porto (RCP) through the lens of a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) method. It is based on the event-RCP held for three hours on a Saturday every two months from June 17, 2017 until April 28, 2018 and on a new economics approach of circular economy. It is intended to examine the potentialities and challenges of RCP. Repair Cafés are ‘workshops' for people to bring consumer products in need of repair where they with volunteer fixers learn repair, maintain their broken or faulty products, or try product modification. It is an RCP-requirement that visitors who bring products participate in repairs undertaken. Regular repair stations include bike, electrical and electronic, clothing, and jewellery. The SWOT method is used to assess internal and external aspects of RCP. It is concluded that the success of RCP is dependent on financial support, the maturity of repair notion, and the alteration of consumers and producers' attitudes to see waste as a resource and to extend the life of a product.

AgroForest Biomass and Circular Bioeconomy

The agroforest sector plays a leading role as a biomass supplier to obtain bio-based products that allowed an acceleration in the circular bioeconomy transition. This chapter applied a mixed-methods review to identify new attractive bio-based products and to evaluate its market potential in Portugal. Forest biomass was identified as an excellent raw material for (1) low-carbon building materials, (2) biotextiles, and (3) bioplastics. The potential of agro-food waste to obtain new bio-based materials was also emphasised. The new bioproducts identified have high potential and attractive markets. It was estimated that a 5% market share of these bioproducts in the global construction, textiles, and plastics markets in 2030 corresponds to an aggregate increase in revenues of 260-579 million € per year in Portugal. The environmental sustainability implications arising from the diffusion of these new biomaterials are also highlighted, focusing on the decarbonisation of the economy.

Financing the Sustainable Development Agenda Goals

The 2030 Agenda is comprehensive, universal, and ambitious. To reach its goals, the world needs to invest US$5 to 7 trillion/year. To finance it, the private sector must be involved. This chapter considers the motivations of business and corporations to incorporate the SDG in their investment agenda and the role DFIs can play in providing financing to their projects. It acknowledges that the private sector is a key element for long-term sustainable development and highlights the difficulties of DFI in assessing impact in risk analysis and therefore financing private investments for sustainable development. Finally, it finds that the international community and developing countries need to work together to improve the business environment on those countries, and concludes that the international community and the banking system do not know how to assess the role and impact of business and corporations projects in the agenda, and that the risk mitigation policy does not consider the nature of DFIs. Looking into the future, the authors present future research topics needed on this subject.

Circular Economy and Sustainability

In the last decades, the concern over natural resources, sustainability, and the current linear economic model based on continuous growth is one of the great challenges of our time. The assumption that there is an unlimited supply of natural resources and that the environment has an unlimited capacity to absorb waste and pollution is no longer a current trend, and growing attention has been paid to it worldwide. This chapter represents a contribution to the continuous conceptual development of circular economy and sustainability, and it also reviews how these two concepts have evolved over the past decades. An extensive literature review was conducted, employing bibliometric analysis to scrutinise the state of the art, the perspectives, the agreements and disagreements among these concepts and their correlation.

Digitalization as a Key Issue of the Circular Economy to Promote Sustainability

Digitalization is a topic of circular economy in the context of the ReSolve framework. The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the context of social organizations can provide added value in order to foster integrative solutions. The aim of this chapter is aligned with the literature about ICT, circular economy, and sustainability to present the design of a prototype that fits homeless person integration strategies and addresses concerns in the various dimensions of sustainability supported by ICT. The authors use the design science research methodology in order to communicate the prototype results for the integration of homeless people. The prototype will be developed under the assumption of use in an organizational context by a multidisciplinary team, aiming to allow the cooperation of the various entities involved. This is a contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The main results of this research suggest how to develop, in partnership with local organizations, solutions to solve social problems supported by a sustainable perspective.

Sustainability Report Evolution

This chapter is a unique case study that aims to present the evolution of non-financial reporting in Nestlé Portugal from 2007 to 2016 with the aim to study in-depth the Nestlé sustainability report practices. This study proposes to identify the key milestones in the evolution of this type of report, to compare with the disclosure strategy of Nestlé international, to understand if this company follow the IIRC guidelines, to identify the contribution of the audit by an independent entity, to conclude if Nestlé contributes to the achieving of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and to identify if the awards Nestlé received matter in its sustainability initiatives. Public institutional information was preferably used, particularly the sustainability report and integrated report, processed with various work tools using the technique of content analysis. The conclusions made it possible to understand that Nestlé emerges as a company that integrates these issues into its strategy and can be a model for companies that wish to follow this report path towards sustainability.