Providing an economy-wide monitoring framework for the circular economy in Austria: Status quo and challenges

Jacobi et al. developed a monitoring framework for circular economy implementation at national level. Existing approaches were extended for this purpose by integrating official data from material flow accounting with waste and emissions statistics. High-quality data is required for macro-level monitoring - potentially a hurdle if the framework is to be widely applied.

The study applies the framework to the example of Austria and shows that in 2014 Austria had a share of 8.5 % of secondary raw materials in processed materials (Input Socioeconomic Cycling Rate - ISCr) and a share of 16.8 % of recycled materials in intermediate products (Output Socioeconomic Cycling Rate - OSCr). Challenges to the robustness of these estimates arise from gaps in data availability and reporting, both on the input and output side, which need to be harmonised in order to achieve effective, holistic Circular Economy (CE) monitoring.

The authors emphasise that there is a strong link between CE and energy consumption and that CE could contribute to combating anthropogenic climate change. A systematic approach is needed to better understand the totality of material flows, waste and emissions in the economy and the associated environmental impacts. This requires linking resource inputs and outputs as well as waste and emissions data at national level. In order to develop evidence-based and effective circular economy measures that both increase resource efficiency and reduce environmental impacts, a monitoring framework that works at a national level is essential.

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