The Impact of Green Technologies on Transition to Circular Economy

Abstract

At the end of 2019, the European Commission presented its new long-term vision for the development of the EU. A strategy for growth, a fair environmental transition, a resource-efficient and low-carbon economy are the key highlights of this ambitious strategy for the next decade. Built on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this transformation goes through a complete change in the production and territorial infrastructure. It covers a whole set of activities, new practices and business models, interconnected and hierarchically ordered, according to their contribution to optimizing the use of raw materials and energy. The circular economy refers to the ability of an economy to grow while the use of resources decreases. The aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between key indicators presenting the countries progress of transition to the circular economy, and a group of factors related to investment in R&D, green technologies and waste recovery and on this basis to outline the opportunities that the European Green Deal opens up for a faster and more efficient transformation of the economy from linear to circular. Comparative analysis between three clusters of EU countries is made. Time series analysis and correlation analysis along with comparative analysis are applied in the research. The conclusions reached point to the still existing connection with the linear model of development and the delay of the transition to a model of real circular economy. Efforts done till now have yielded results, but for the active "closure" of the circle active policies, synchronized actions by government, business and society are needed. This requires adequate measures taken by the public authorities and decisive reforms in the eco-innovation policy.