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2021 129 José Alfonso Aranda Usón Definición y medición de la adopción de la economía circular en empresas en el marco de la contabilidad de gestión medioambiental Director/es Portillo TArragona, María Pilar Moneva Abadía, José Mariano © Universidad de Zaragoza Servicio de Publicaciones ISSN 2254-7606 José Alfonso Aranda Usón DEFINICIÓN Y MEDICIÓN DE LA ADOPCIÓN DE LA ECONOMÍA CIRCULAR EN EMPRESAS EN EL MARCO DE LA CONTABILIDAD DE GESTIÓN MEDIOAMBIENTAL Director/es Portillo TArragona, María Pilar Moneva Abadía, José Mariano Tesis Doctoral Autor 2020 Repositorio de la Universidad de Zaragoza – Zaguan http://zaguan.unizar.es UNIVERSIDAD DE ZARAGOZA Escuela de Doctorado Programa de Doctorado en Contabilidad y Finanzas Tesis Doctoral Definición y medición de la adopción de la economía circular en empresas en el marco de la contabilidad de gestión medioambiental Autor José Alfonso Aranda Usón Directores Prof. Dr. José Mariano Moneva Abadía Prof. Dra. María Pilar Portillo Tarragona Facultad de Economía y Empresa 2019 Repositorio de la Universidad de ZaragozaZaguan http://zaguan.unizar.es TESIS POR COMPENDIO DE PUBLICACIONES La presente tesis doctoral, con el título “Definición y medición de la adopción de la economía circular en empresas en el marco de la contabilidad de gestión medioambiental”, ha sido realizada por el doctorando José Alfonso Aranda Usón, codirigida por el Dr. José Mariano Moneva Abadía y la Dra. María Pilar Portillo Tarragona y desarrollada en el marco del programa de doctorado de Contabilidad y Finanzas de la Universidad de Zaragoza. Se trata de una tesis que se presenta como compendio de los artículos previamente publicados o aceptados para su publicación que se detallan a continuación, siendo el doctorando autor de todos ellos: Scarpellini, S., Portillo-Tarragona, P., Aranda-Usón, A., & Llena-Macarulla, F. (2019). Definition and measurement of the circular economy’s regional impact. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 62(13), 2211–2237. https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2018.1537974 Aranda-Usón, A., M. Moneva, J., Portillo-Tarragona, P., Llena-Macarulla, F. (2018). Measurement of the circular economy in businesses: Impact and implications for regional policies. Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment, 2(1), 187– 205. https://doi.org/10.3280/EFE2018-002010 Aranda-Usón, A., Portillo-Tarragona, P. Scarpellini, S., Llena-Macarulla, F. (2019 online) The progressive adoption of a circular economy by businesses for cleaner production: An approach from a regional study in Spain. Journal of Cleaner Production. IN PRESS - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119648 Aranda-Usón, A., Portillo-Tarragona, P., Marín-Vinuesa, L. M., & Scarpellini, S. (2019). Financial Resources for the Circular Economy : A Perspective from Businesses. Sustainability, 11(888), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11030888 Scarpellini, S., Marín-Vinuesa, L. M., Aranda-Usón, A., & Portillo-Tarragona, P. (2019) on-line. Dynamic capabilities and environmental accounting for the circular economy in businesses. Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy, IN PRESS. https://doi.org/10.1108/SAMPJ-04-2019-0150  4   5  José Alfonso Aranda Usón, con D.N.I. 17735657N expone: Siendo el tercer autor del artículo titulado “Definition and measurement of the circular economy’s regional impact”, afirmo haber contribuido en todo el proceso de elaboración de este trabajo de investigación, incluyendo la definición del estudio, el diseño de las encuestas y de las entrevistas semi-estructuradas, la realización del trabajo empírico de recopilación de los datos y el análisis cualitativo, así como la redacción del manuscrito. Además, hago constar que, siendo todos los autores poseedores del título de Doctor, este trabajo de investigación no formará parte de ninguna otra tesis en modalidad de compendio de publicaciones. En Zaragoza, a 13 de diciembre de 2019 Fdo: José Alfonso Aranda Usón  12   13  José Alfonso Aranda Usón, con D.N.I. 17735657N expone: Siendo el tercer autor del artículo titulado “Dynamic capabilities and environmental accounting for the circular economy in businesses”, afirmo haber contribuido en todo el proceso de elaboración de este trabajo de investigación, incluyendo la definición del estudio, el desarrollo del enfoque teórico, el diseño de las encuestas, la realización del trabajo empírico de recopilación de los datos y el análisis cuantitativo, así como la redacción del manuscrito y su posterior revisión en la fase de publicación. Además, hago constar que, siendo todos los autores poseedores del título de Doctor, este trabajo de investigación no formará parte de ninguna otra tesis en modalidad de compendio de publicaciones. En Zaragoza, a 13 de diciembre de 2019 Fdo: José Alfonso Aranda Usón  14   15  AGRADECIMIENTOS En primer lugar, quisiera expresar mi agradecimiento a la Dra. María Pilar Portillo Tarragona y al Dr. José Mariano Moneva Abadía, por su dirección y apoyo en la investigación en el ámbito de la economía financiera y la contabilidad llevada a cabo para esta Tesis. Parte del trabajo de investigación ha sido posible gracias a la co-financiación del Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad - Proyectos “ECO-CIRCULAR” Ref. ECO201674920-C2-1-R y “Reco-inno”, Ref. ECO2013-45599-Ry ha sido llevado a cabo en el marco de las actividades del Grupo de Investigación del Gobierno de Aragón S33_17R “Socioeconomía y Sostenibilidad: Contabilidad Medioambiental, Economía Circular Corporativa y Recursos”. Quiero manifestar mi agradecimiento a todas las empresas que se adhirieron a ambos proyectos colaborativos y a los profesionales que proporcionaron los datos necesarios para la investigación, realizada gracias también a la ayuda otorgada por el Consejo Económico y Social de Aragón –CESApara el estudio “Nivel de implantación de los principios de economía circular en Aragón”. Quiero agradecer asimismo de manera muy especial el apoyo que a diario me brindan Sabina Scarpellini y los miembros del equipo de investigación con quien colaboro y, en particular, quiero agradecer los ánimos que me han transmitido mis compañeros Eva, Jesús, Miguel, Alexia y Fernando a lo largo de la realización de esta investigación. De forma general, quiero agradecer a los miembros del Departamento de Contabilidad y Finanzas de la Universidad de Zaragoza las facilidades encontradas en la tramitación de la Tesis. Finalmente, quisiera expresar mi agradecimiento a mi familia, a mi hermano Juan, a mis hijos Marcos y Álvaro y a mi mujer Elena, sin los cuales no hubiera sido posible para mí elaborar esta segunda Tesis doctoral. Índice  19  Resumen ............................................................................................................................... 21 Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 25 1 Parte primera. Introducción ............................................................................................ 29 1.1 Introducción ................................................................................................................... 31 Medición interna de la economía circular en empresas e inversiones..................... 32 Contabilidad de gestión medioambiental y economía circular ................................ 34 1.2 Marco teórico ................................................................................................................ 39 1.3 Objetivos, Justificación y estructura de la tesis ............................................................. 41 Definición del papel de las empresas en la implantación de la economía circular a nivel territorial .......................................................................................................... 44 Medición de las actividades de economía circular, nivel de adopción en empresas y su impacto a nivel regional ....................................................................................... 45 Caracterización y medición de recursos financieros para las inversiones en economía circular empresarial ................................................................................. 47 Definición y medición de capacidades específicas de contabilidad medioambiental para la adopción de la economía circular en empresas ............................................ 48 1.4 Enfoque metodológico ................................................................................................... 49 2 Parte segunda. Contribución de los estudios realizados ................................................... 55 2.1 Definition and measurement of the circular economy’s regional impact (Artículo 1) ... 57 2.2 Measurement of the circular economy in businesses: Impact and implications for regional policies (Artículo 2) .......................................................................................... 87 2.3 The progressive adoption of a circular economy by businesses for cleaner production: An approach from a regional study in Spain (Artículo 3) ............................................. 109 2.4 Financial resources for the circular economy: A perspective from businesses (Artículo 4) ..................................................................................................................................... 123 2.5 Dynamic capabilities and the environmental accounting for the circular economy in businesses (Artículo 5) ......................................................................................................................... 149 3 Parte tercera. Conclusiones .......................................................................................... 187 3.1 Consideraciones finales ............................................................................................... 189 3.2 Implicaciones de la tesis .............................................................................................. 191 3.3 Limitaciones y Perspectivas ......................................................................................... 193 4 Referencias ................................................................................................................... 195  20   21  Resumen En los últimos años, el término economía circular (EC) está siendo utilizado por gobiernos, investigadores y empresas para describir un enfoque de desarrollo sostenible que no restringe el crecimiento económico. Una EC implica la transformación de un modelo económico lineal en uno circular para reducir la dependencia de las materias primas y la energía y para mitigar el impacto ambiental de la producción y el consumo. La literatura académica en EC a nivel micro se ha centrado principalmente en el análisis del modelo de negocio circular (en inglés circular business model) y en la implementación de diversas acciones relacionadas con el cierre de círculos de materiales, pero el proceso de adopción por parte de las empresas de la EC todavía está en una fase incipiente de investigación. Específicamente, la introducción de la EC en las empresas y la transformación de una economía lineal tradicional a una circular, requiere la implantación de procesos evolutivos en los que se establezcan vínculos gradualmente dinámicos en el tiempo que han sido poco estudiados hasta la fecha, y la medición del nivel de adopción de la EC por parte de la empresa en su conjunto ha sido escasamente investigada. Ante este contexto, el objetivo principal de esta tesis es llenar este “gap” en la investigación para contribuir al conocimiento acerca de la medición de la introducción de la EC en empresas en el marco específico de la contabilidad de gestión medioambiental y las finanzas corporativas. Asimismo, otro objetivo de esta investigación es la definición y medición de los recursos y de las capacidades aplicadas por las empresas a las actividades relacionadas con la EC, como aportación específicamente en la medición de recursos financieros y de capacidades relacionadas con la contabilidad medioambiental. Cabe mencionar además que los estudios empíricos sobre de la introducción de la EC en diferentes sectores tampoco han sido abordados desde la perspectiva territorial. Por lo tanto, un objetivo complementario de esta tesis es ampliar el conocimiento sobre la EC empresarial a nivel territorial desde una perspectiva regional, como un tema aún poco estudiado en la literatura académica. El método de investigación aplicado en esta tesis se ha desarrollado para proporcionar una doble perspectiva metodológica, siendo integrado por un análisis cuantitativo basado en una muestra de empresas, y por un análisis cualitativo basado en un caso de estudio de ámbito  28  1 Parte primera. Introducción Parte primera. Introducción  31  1.1 Introducción En la actualidad, el término Economía Circular (EC) está siendo utilizado por políticos, académicos y profesionales para describir un modelo económico de desarrollo sostenible que no comprometa el crecimiento económico (Pratt et al., 2016). En el marco del paradigma emergente de la sostenibilidad y en los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS), la EC plantea un modelo en el que los flujos de materiales, recursos, trabajo e información sean efectivos al objeto de que el capital natural y social pueda ser restaurado constantemente. El núcleo de la EC es conseguir que el flujo de materiales sea circular (cerrado) y el uso de materias primas y recursos se repita una y otra vez a través de múltiples fases (Yuan et al., 2006), permitiendo mantener el mayor tiempo posible el valor añadido de los productos, a través de la reducción de residuos (Mathews y Tan, 2011; Murray et al., 2017). Existe cierto consenso acerca de que la EC puede representar una alternativa atractiva y viable al modelo lineal de "tomar, usar y tirar" y generar valor tanto para las empresas como para la sociedad, ya que la competitividad empresarial pasa por lograr un compromiso entre productividad y utilización de recursos para maximizar la eficiencia y “obtener más con menos” en sus operaciones (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2015). Es por ello que este modelo está siendo impulsado a nivel internacional por numerosas instituciones y gobiernos, tanto en la Unión Europea (UE) (European Commission, 2015) como en otros continentes (Aranda-Usón et al., 2018). En el ámbito académico, la EC está siendo objeto de investigación en el ámbito económico, siendo cada vez mayor el número de estudios y revisiones de investigación que ponen de relieve que esta materia está adquiriendo más relevancia (Ghisellini et al., 2016; Ghisellini y Ulgiati, 2020; Kirchherr et al., 2017; Korhonen et al., 2018; Merli et al., 2018; Pomponi y Moncaster, 2017; Urbinati et al., 2017). El interés por parte de las empresas hacia la EC también se ha incrementado en los últimos años (Lewandowski, 2016). No obstante, la introducción del modelo de negocio circular en las organizaciones está aun escasamente a estudiado a nivel micro (Stewart y Niero, 2018). Mientras que a nivel macro la investigación en EC se ha incrementado rápidamente en esta década, los estudios llevados a cabo hasta la fecha en ámbito micro han centrado principalmente en los factores que influyen en el compromiso de las organizaciones privadas con la EC, en las barreras e incentivos (Demirel y Danisman, 2019), y en algunos de los aspectos que la EC supone en la estrategia empresarial y en el modelo de negocio circular (Bocken et al., 2017; Witjes y Lozano, 2016). Más concretamente, la investigación de ámbito contable ha  32  abordado sólo parcialmente y de manera fragmentada la implantación de la EC en la empresa (Aranda-Usón et al., 2019). El desarrollo de métricas para la medición interna de la EC en el ámbito de la contabilidad de gestión medioambiental se encuentra en una fase incipiente y no ofrece resultados unívocos acerca de cómo este modelo se esté implantando en las empresas en un territorio determinado y los correspondientes impactos. Son las premisas anteriormente descritas las que motivaron esta tesis doctoral y la investigación que se detalla en los siguientes apartados. Medición interna de la economía circular en empresas e inversiones En relación a su implantación en empresas, la EC puede plantearse para la reducción del uso de materiales y de energía, para una producción más limpia, para la disminución de materiales y recursos en la producción, la disminución de la contaminación, o aumentar la eficiencia con altas tasas de circulación, posibilitando que los recursos alcancen así un uso completo durante la producción (Jun & Xiang 2011; Van Berkel 2010). En el nivel de estudio micro se incluyen además las interacciones sinérgicas entre empresas, definidas también como simbiosis industrial, y las iniciativas que convierten los residuos de los procesos productivos en recursos para ser nuevamente empleados en otro proceso industrial (Mathews y Tan, 2011). En las distintas fases de implantación de la EC, los flujos de materiales, energía y agua, así como de residuos y sub-productos pueden medirse a través de indicadores (Van Berkel, 2010), y para cada sistema (recursos no renovables, las emisiones al medio ambiente, uso de la tierra, el impacto en la salud humana y la sociedad), se han ido proponiendo métricas (Pakarinen et al., 2010). No obstante, cabe precisar que en la actualidad no se dispone de indicadores específicos desarrollados para la medición del nivel de EC alcanzado por una organización en su conjunto. Así como para productos y procesos podemos encontrar metrologías muy avanzadas de Análisis de Ciclo de Vida (ACV) para la definición del nivel de circularidad (Daddi et al., 2017), no hay consenso en cuanto a una metodología integrada que permita capturar las distintas actividades de EC de una empresa. Asimismo, las fuentes de datos son limitadas, y los estudios empíricos en la materia son aún escasos. Además, cabe destacar la relevancia que tiene en la EC empresarial los diferentes actores locales, tales como la estructura del territorio que tienen que ser tenidos en cuenta en los modelos circulares en la intervención gubernamental (Jacobsen, 2006a). Ante este desafío, y una vez constatada la ausencia de indicadores integrados de EC a nivel micro, resulta de interés investigar acerca de cómo puede medirse su adopción por parte de las Parte primera. Introducción  33  empresas, para así definir y analizar la relación entre la introducción del modelo circular y diferentes aspectos de contabilidad de gestión medioambiental y finanzas corporativas, a través del estudio de los recursos financieros, su disponibilidad, su calidad (en términos de costes, y garantías) ante futuras necesidades financieras al objeto de que las nuevas oportunidades de inversión en proyectos de EC, con beneficio medioambiental, sean perfectamente identificadas en términos económicos. Esto permite que las consiguientes ventajas competitivas se traduzcan en rentabilidades futuras, y que la planificación de la financiación para el crecimiento, permita que las empresas accedan a recursos financieros de diferente naturaleza, bien mediante endeudamiento (Myers, 1984; Palenzuela et al., 2007) cuando la empresa no pueda generar internamente suficientes recursos, bien mediante recursos propios de la empresa (Rajan y Zingales, 1995). De este modo, estrategia empresarial y finanzas corporativas caminan inevitablemente a la par (Brealey et al., 2015). Por lo tanto, la medición interna de los recursos y las capacidades estratégicas aplicadas a las inversiones de EC resulta relevante para las finanzas corporativas, en la medida que afecta a la toma de decisiones sobre inversiones necesarias para la puesta en marcha de actividades circulares en la empresa. En este sentido los recursos financieros se convierten en un elemento estratégico por lo que su capacidad para gestionarlo, así como la estructura financiera corporativa, puede determinar el comportamiento financiero de la empresa ante las inversiones de carácter medioambiental (Aranda-Usón et al., 2019; Marín-Vinuesa et al., 2018), puesto que se suelen caracterizar por horizontes temporales más largos y por niveles de riesgo por encima de la innovación convencional (Ghisetti et al., 2017; Scarpellini et al., 2016). Si nos referimos a las inversiones en eco-innovación, como ámbito interrelacionado con la EC, puede considerarse aceptado que para alcanzar el valor óptimo de un proyecto de inversión en la empresa, existe un vínculo entre los resultados obtenidos a través de los proyectos, la estrategia y las características propias de la organización (Too y Weaver, 2014). Esta relación ha sido explorada para la eco-innovación por algunos autores a través de la aplicación de metodologías, tanto de tipo cuantitativo (Halila y Rundquist, 2011), como aplicadas al estudio del caso (Kemp y Pontoglio, 2011). Este ámbito de análisis está estrechamente relacionado con las inversiones innovadoras necesarias para la adopción de la EC y con los recursos financieros necesarios a tal efecto. Es por ello, que en esta tesis se presente avanzar en el conocimiento de los recursos financieros aplicados a la EC, siendo un ámbito aún poco estudiado en la literatura. La financiación de las oportunidades de inversión y la disponibilidad de recursos financieros mantiene una estrecha relación con la actividad innovadora que se considera absolutamente  34  necesaria en esta etapa de despliegue de la EC. Por lo tanto, las posibles restricciones a las cuales los recursos pueden estar expuestos afectarían particularmente este tipo de inversiones (Brown et al., 2009; Lee et al., 2015). Las empresas realizarán estas inversiones si pueden acceder a recursos financieros suficientes a un coste razonable, y esta circunstancia está vinculada al riesgo, no sólo el asociado a la propia naturaleza de la inversión en EC que se pretende financiar, también dependerá de las características económico-financieras de cada empresa, del sector en el que opere, del ciclo económico que atraviese o del área geográfica en la que desarrolle su actividad. Por lo tanto, la disponibilidad de recursos financieros se convierte en un elemento estratégico para la eco-innovación (Ociepa-Kubicka y Pachura, 2017; Zulfiqar y Thapa, 2018) y, por lo tanto, para la EC. La relevancia de los recursos financieros para el desempeño medioambiental de las empresas, la eco-innovación y las energías renovables ha dado lugar al estudio de diferentes aspectos financieros de las inversiones, como son los costes y garantías de la financiación externa, la disponibilidad del recurso y las restricciones, la incertidumbre acerca de los flujos de caja generados por la inversión, etc. (Aranda-Usón et al., 2019) Sin embargo, en la literatura, antes de emprenderse esta tesis, las diferentes dimensiones de los recursos financieros no habían sido objeto de análisis con el alcance y el grado de detalle aquí propuestos para las diferentes inversiones necesarias para lograr una EC. Es por lo anterior, que se considera relevante proceder a la medición de los recursos financieros y de las capacidades necesarias para su aplicación desde el ámbito de análisis de la contabilidad de gestión medioambiental, tal y como se analiza en el siguiente apartado. Contabilidad de gestión medioambiental y economía circular Ante el cambio tecnológico propiciado por la EC, la aplicación de la triple bottom line (Elkington, 2001) permite ampliar la información contable y financiera tradicional a través de la incorporación de indicadores medioambientales y sociales. Así, la contabilidad puede dar respuesta a la presión ambiental para una creación de valor a través de la EC al implicar el respeto de los recursos naturales y un desarrollo humano equilibrado entre los ejes de la sostenibilidad. Es previsible por lo tanto que, en la dimensión económica micro, la adopción de la EC conlleve determinadas acciones con una clara repercusión para la gestión medioambiental e interna y que suponga la implantación paulatina de métodos y procesos de medición, además del desarrollo de indicadores específicos y la inclusión de las mejoras en Parte primera. Introducción  35  términos de circularidad de las empresas en la actividad de reporting (Marco et al., 2019) y en el marco de la responsabilidad social corporativa (RSC) (Adams, 2008; Moneva y Ortas, 2009), pudiendo ser objeto de análisis de contabilidad social y medioambiental (Larrinaga et al., 2019). De hecho, en el modelo circular se intensifican las relaciones comerciales con empresas locales, se potencian las relaciones estables con proveedores de cara al cierre de círculos, y resulta necesario definir los niveles de precio para los subproductos y los residuos que se convierten en recursos para otras empresas. Asimismo, la EC plantea la aplicación de estándares voluntarios y normas medioambientales específicas (Bonilla-Priego et al., 2011), la introducción de nuevas actividades para la circularidad del modelo dentro de la propia empresa o en colaboración con otras organizaciones, la gestión de actividades o instalaciones comunes, la entrega a los clientes de información completa acerca de los productos y servicios para su reciclaje, así como la implantación de una estructura de costes acorde al modelo circular en el marco de la contabilidad medioambiental. Podemos encontrar distintas definiciones de contabilidad medioambiental. Tanc y Gokoglan (2015) ofrecen una definición exhaustiva de este concepto y su génesis en la literatura y la definen como una combinación de prácticas contables utilizadas en el estudio de las relaciones mutuas entre los contables y la ecología, el conocimiento de la información de los costes relacionados con el medioambiente y asignados a los productos y procesos. Aunque se han estudiado algunos aspectos de la adopción de procesos de contabilidad medioambiental por parte de las empresas (Wilmshurst y Frost, 2001), antes de iniciar la investigación planteada en esta tesis apenas se contaba con estudios específicos de EC en ámbito contable a nivel micro (Stewart y Niero, 2018). Ante estas premisas, resulta de interés plantear el estudio específico de los métodos y prácticas de medición y el control de las actividades que la EC implica para las empresas, que previsiblemente supondrán una mayor implementación de niveles de contabilidad de gestión medioambiental o Environmental Management Accounting (EMA en sus siglas en inglés). En términos más generales, la EMA se desarrolla para la identificación, la asignación y el control de los costes medioambientales de manera separada de los costes que no estén relacionados con los impactos medioambientales de la actividad (Qian et al., 2018). Una importante característica de la EMA es su énfasis en la medición de flujos monetarios y físicos en un ciclo de vida de un producto o sistema. Esto incluye procedimientos físicos para el consumo de materiales y energía, flujos y la fase de uso, así como los procedimientos para el  36  cálculo de costes, ahorros e ingresos relacionados con las actividades o flujos de materiales que tengan un impacto ambiental (Christ y Burritt, 2015; Qian et al., 2018). Aspectos que ayudan a conocer el grado de exposición al riesgo de la empresa en términos medioambientales, permitiendo establecer el diseño de su estrategia climática de manera que la EMA se convierte en una herramienta estratégica (Schaltegger et al., 2016). Así, medir el nivel de adopción de la EC a nivel micro en el ámbito de la EMA, contribuye a una gestión más eficiente de los diferentes recursos de la empresa para el desarrollo de actividades de EC que propicien un crecimiento más sostenible, permitiendo una relación de la empresa con el entorno social, ambiental y económico en el que desarrolla su actividad (Gallego-Alvarez et al., 2017; Moneva-Abadía et al., 2019). En el marco de la EMA se pueden emplear herramientas como las de Análisis de Ciclo de Vida (LCA en sus siglas en inglés de Life Cycle Asessment), o el Life Cycle Costing (LCC) (Bierer et al., 2015), implantar normas como la ISO 14040 2006 o la ISO14044 2006, o aplicar metodologías de cálculo de huella ecológica (Manfredi et al., 2015). Estas herramientas pueden complementar la información medioambiental necesaria a nivel contable, de particular interés para empresas que adopten un modelo de negocio circular (Daddi et al., 2017; Qian et al., 2018). En una extensa revisión bibliográfica Pomponi and Moncaster (2017) afirman que a nivel micro la investigación interdisciplinar es una excepción y que la mayor parte de los estudios tratan de cuestiones técnicas en la aplicación de la EC, y no contemplan en su análisis aspectos de contabilidad medioambiental, aunque introducen la aplicación de las herramientas cercanas a la EMA como el Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA) para entornos de .EC En resumen, las técnicas de MFCA, recogidas posteriormente en la norma ISO 14051 (Christ y Burritt, 2016), se implantaron sobre todo como una consecuencia lógica de proyectos de gestión ambiental a finales de los años ’80 y comienzo de los ’90 aunque derivaran de los balances input/output de los flujos de materiales causados por la producción industrial iniciados en Alemania en la primera mitad del siglo veinte (Wagner, 2015). Asimismo, hay que mencionar que la MFCA depende del acceso a la información de los flujos físicos en los procesos, especialmente de aquellos ligados a los flujos de materiales y energía en un enfoque de gestión de corto plazo aunque ha resultado ser una herramienta de utilidad para la fase presupuestaria (Christ y Burritt, 2015), al permitir la evaluación de la eficiencia y las pérdidas en dichos flujos (Nakajima et al., 2015). Por lo tanto, el rango de aplicación de la MFCA es muy amplio, al poderse aplicar a la detección de ineficiencias y oportunidades de ahorro de costes Parte primera. Introducción  37  contribuyendo a la mejora no sólo del desempeño medioambiental sino también de la rentabilidad económica, y a la vez favorecer la implantación de política de ahorro de recursos y, por lo tanto, una producción más limpia (Schmidt et al., 2015). Cabe añadir que la MFCA difiere de otras herramientas de gestión medioambiental al tener como objetivo la conciliación del medio ambiente con los aspectos económicos y permitir una comprensión más profunda de los procesos de fabricación. Cabe señalar además que puede ser aplicada de forma continua y rutinaria si se plantea de acuerdo a los sistemas de gestión de la compañía (Kokubu y Kitada, 2015). En aplicación a la EC, las metodologías orientadas a la medición de los flujos de materiales como el MFCA pueden aplicarse para medir la entrada de recursos naturales, el uso de materiales reciclables. Sin embargo, se consideran insuficientes para medir otras categorías de impacto relativas a las emisiones, al igual que la metodología relacionadas con la Material Input Per Service (MIPS) que permite cuantificar la intensidad del material aplicados a los productos, no proporciona información sobre las emisiones relacionadas o el uso de recursos reciclables (Elia et al., 2017). Aunque en esta tesis no se aborde en profundidad la aplicación de MFCA, ya que requieren de un caso de estudio para su análisis, entre los indicadores planteados para la medición interna de la EC se contemplan algunos dirigidos al control de la intensidad de materias primas y al flujo de materiales y residuos (Aranda-Usón et al., 2018). Es por ello que se ha introducido su definición al tratarse además de una metodología de análisis de aplicación a la EC. En una línea similar, ha quedado refrendada en la literatura la relación entre la EMA y la ecoeficiencia en su objetivo de aumentar la productividad y, por lo tanto, reducir los costes, a la vez que se mejora el desempeño ambiental (Bebbington, 2001; Burnett y Hansen, 2008). La ecoeficiencia (Huppes y Ishikawa, 2005) tiene implicaciones significativas para la contabilidad de gestión ambiental al permitir que las empresas aíslen y cuantifiquen los costes, los beneficios y los resultados operacionales de una gestión ambiental proactiva (Burnett y Hansen, 2008) e introduzcan el paradigma eco-eficiente en sus sistemas de control de gestión (Figge et al., 2002). Korhonen et al. (2018) destacan el material flow como análisis esencial en este marco y resumen los ámbitos de análisis explorados a nivel micro en economía ecológica hacia la ecoeficiencia (Huppes y Ishikawa, 2005) y la ecología industrial (Ehrenfeld y Gertler, 1997) para diferencias los objetivos de tipo económico de la EC, resumidos en la reducción de materiales y recursos para el control de emisiones así como los riesgos y costes asociados  44  Figura 1.2. Esquema de la tesis En los cinco artículos citados en la figura anterior se desarrolla una serie secuencial de preguntas de investigación que se respondieron a través de la aplicación metodológica y de la investigación descrita para cada publicación en los siguientes apartados. Definición del papel de las empresas en la implantación de la economía circular a nivel territorial A partir de la revisión de la literatura, podemos afirmar que la actividad de EC desarrollada por las empresas tiene una componente territorial aún poco estudiada en relación a los flujos de materiales, recursos y productos y que implica el necesario dimensionamiento del nivel de adopción de las empresas de la EC en un territorio determinado, tanto por su directa relación con el cierre de círculos a nivel local, como para el impacto socio-económico correspondiente. Smol et al. (2017) proponen diferentes métricas para medir las exportaciones de productos de eco-industrias a nivel regional y miden el empleo generado por estas empresas en relación con la EC, así como su volumen de negocio, que se considera directamente relacionado con la actividad circular. Otros autores han analizado empíricamente la concienciación ciudadana y el comportamiento de las empresas en términos EC, en particular a nivel micro (Elia et al., 2017). Parte primera. Introducción  45  Sin embargo, el análisis espacial de la actividad empresarial dirigida al cierre de círculos en un territorio determinado no se había realizado hasta la publicación de esta tesis, que trata por lo tanto de responder a un “gap” de la literatura. Así, a partir de otros estudios de política regional para la EC, aunque indirectamente relacionados con el ámbito de investigación micro objeto de esta tesis, en el primero de los artículos se realiza una contribución metodológica que tiene como objetivo definir las principales actividades que sustentan la EC a nivel regional desde una perspectiva holística, conceptualizando su adopción a nivel social, empresarial y en la administración pública. Como resultado para los fines de esta tesis, las principales actividades de EC en las empresas se han clasificado a través de un estudio de caso regional en la Comunidad Autónoma de Aragón en respuestas a las siguientes preguntas de investigación: (a) ¿Cómo se puede medir el nivel de adopción de la EC en un territorio específico? (b) ¿Cuál es el impacto de la EC y cómo puede medirse en un territorio? Gracias a los resultados obtenidos en el primer artículo, se definieron los principios de EC que estaban siendo introducidos en las empresas y su fase de adopción. Además, a través de entrevistas semi-estructuradas realizadas a diferentes grupos de interés, se obtuvo una visión preliminar de las actividades empresariales más relevantes de cara a la EC para su posterior medición en el segundo artículo que se resume en el siguiente apartado. Medición de las actividades de economía circular, nivel de adopción en empresas y su impacto a nivel regional Los resultados obtenidos en el primero de los artículos, sirvieron de base para el desarrollo del segundo trabajo que integra esta tesis y en el que se plantea, además de un análisis más desarrollado de la implantación de la EC en las empresas a nivel regional un listado de actividades directamente relacionadas con la de EC y una metodología simplificada de estimación de los impactos regionales derivados de las actividades circulares llevadas a cabo por las empresas. A pesar de las limitaciones señaladas anteriormente, algunos autores han propuesto indicadores para la medición de los flujos de material, energía y agua en las diferentes etapas de implementación de la EC (Van Berkel, 2010). A partir del análisis de los sistemas que podrían ser de aplicación a los objetivos planteados en esta tesis, podemos afirmar que hasta la fecha no se disponen de sistemas de medición integrados para determinar el nivel de circularidad alcanzado por una empresa en su conjunto. Los indicadores propuestos en la literatura tienen  46  fortalezas y debilidades, y ninguna metodología específica para medir la EC empresarial ha ganado un amplio apoyo académico. Además, cabe destacar que las fuentes de datos son limitadas, ya que se requiere de datos recabados directamente desde las empresas que no pueden obtenerse a través de bases de datos en la actualidad. Además, también es importante tener en cuenta la relevancia de los factores relacionados con la estructura territorial, las variables socioeconómicas y el impacto de las iniciativas gubernamentales a nivel regional y local (Jacobsen, 2006b). Ante estas premisas, las preguntas de investigación desarrolladas en la segunda etapa de la investigación fueron las siguientes: (a) ¿Cuáles son las actividades relacionadas con la EC más extendidas en las empresas que operan en sectores sensibles a la adopción de la EC en un marco territorial?; (b) ¿Cuál es el impacto del cierre de círculos alcanzado por las empresas en un territorio? Para contestar a las preguntas de investigación, en este segundo artículo se estudia, en un mismo marco analítico, la implementación de EC en empresas y el impacto que supone la actividad llevada a cabo para el cierre de círculos a nivel territorial, planteándose que la EC se está analizando en la literatura a distintos niveles (Franco, 2017). Para alcanzar este objetivo, tras realizar un análisis de la literatura, se amplía a una segunda fase el caso de estudio regional en la Comunidad Autónoma de Aragón, al que se añade el análisis cuantitativo de una muestra de empresas, tal y como se explica en detalle en el apartado dedicado a la metodología de este capítulo. Gracias a la investigación realizada, en este segundo artículo de la tesis se ha realizado una aportación tanto teórica como metodológica para la definición y medición de la EC en el territorio desde la óptica de la actividad empresarial y se ha podido dimensionar el impacto socio-económico que el cierre de círculos alcanzado en las empresas supone en la región, siendo una metodología simplificada de gran interés. A partir de los resultados anteriores, se plantearon nuevas preguntas de investigación que se enumeran a continuación y que fueron abordadas en el tercero de los artículos que integran esta tesis: (a) ¿Cómo están introduciendo las actividades relacionadas con la EC las empresas a nivel territorial); (b) Influye la situación territorial en la adopción de las actividades de EC por parte de las empresas? Al objeto de ampliar los resultados obtenidos en las fases anteriores de la investigación, en este artículo se ofrece un análisis inédito de las actividades relacionadas con la EC que las empresas están adoptando a nivel territorial que se clasifican en cuatro niveles, a partir de la consideración del impacto que suponen estas actividades en términos de cierre de círculos de Parte primera. Introducción  47  materiales en la EC a nivel micro. Las actividades incluidas en el primer grupo, definido como nivel I 'REC', están relacionadas principalmente con el reciclaje y la eficiencia energética y se consideran como la primera etapa de la adopción de la EC porque se han introducido ya en numerosos sectores. El grupo de actividades definido como “SIM” que integran el nivel IV incluye soluciones de simbiosis industrial o tecnologías de ecología industrial y, dado que no se suelen implementar con frecuencia, se considera la etapa más avanzadas de la adopción de la EC. El grupo definido como nivel III "VALW", incluye actividades de desmaterialización, energías renovables y materias primas secundarias, mientras que otras actividades como la eco-innovación y el eco-diseño se incluyen en el segundo grupo definido de nivel II "DES". Esta agrupación permite definir y medir el progreso de las empresas hacia la EC por utilizando un conjunto de indicadores de aplicación a las realizadas por las empresas que se consideran relevantes en términos de EC en un territorio determinado. Como principal resultado se pudo apreciar una tendencia incremental en la adopción de las actividades a nivel micro. Aun quedando de manifiesto el carácter progresivo de la introducción de la EC, no quedó demostrado que las empresas estén adoptando la EC con el objetivo principal de cerrar los círculos de materiales, siendo el proceso influido por diferentes factores del contexto regional en el que se localizan las empresas. Los avances obtenidos en la medición y en los indicadores aplicados permitieron ampliar el conocimiento en el ámbito de la EMA para la EC. Caracterización y medición de recursos financieros para las inversiones en economía circular empresarial A partir de la revisión de la literatura y de los resultados alcanzados en los dos artículos anteriores, en el cuarto de los trabajos publicados que integran esta tesis, se perfila la medición del nivel de EC alcanzado por una muestra de empresas que se detalla en el siguiente apartado de metodología. La medición empírica de las actividades e inversiones que las empresas realizan en la actualidad directamente relacionadas con el cierre de círculos propugnado por la EC ha permitido el diseño de un constructo de indicadores que representa uno de los resultados de la tesis de mayor alcance en términos de EMA, ya que proporciona el definido como “circular scope” de una empresa en su conjunto (Artículo 4). En resumen, el marco teórico de la RBV se aplica en el estudio que dio lugar a la cuarta publicación para ampliar el conocimiento en las finanzas corporativas en ámbito de EC a nivel micro. Asimismo, este enfoque teórico, permite analizar si la cantidad de recursos financieros está relacionada con la mejora medioambiental y el desempeño en términos de EC de las  48  empresas. La definición y medición de los recursos financieros específicos aplicados a las inversiones de EC se desarrolló a partir de las siguientes preguntas de investigación: (a) ¿A un mayor nivel de inversión corresponde un mayor nivel de EC en las empresas?; (b) ¿Qué características de los recursos financieros están relacionadas con el nivel de inversión en EC en las empresas?; (c) ¿Las decisiones financieras sobre la naturaleza de los recursos están relacionadas con el nivel de inversión en EC en las empresas?; (d) ¿Qué actividades de carácter medioambiental están influyendo en el alcance circular de las empresas? La relación entre el nivel de circularidad introducido por las empresas (“circular scope”) y los recursos financieros movilizados representa el resultado principal de esta fase de la tesis, conllevando una aportación tanto de carácter metodológico en cuanto a la medición y caracterización de recursos financieros y del nivel de introducción de las actividades de EC en las empresas, como de carácter teórico ya que explora un campo de análisis inédito hasta la publicación de esta tesis aplicando la teoría de RBV a la EC. El constructo de indicadores aplicado a la medición del “circular scope” se aplicó también al estudio de otras capacidades de la empresa relacionadas con la contabilidad medioambiental. Definición y medición de capacidades específicas de contabilidad medioambiental para la adopción de la economía circular en empresas Al objeto de ampliar el análisis de la relación de la EC también con las capacidades de las empresas, la investigación expuesta en el quinto artículo se fundamenta en el marco teórico de las Dynamic Capabilities. Los sistemas de gestión ambiental, la RSC, el reporting y otras prácticas de contabilidad medioambiental se estudian en el mismo marco de análisis para medir su impacto en el alcance circular (“circular scope”) de las empresas. En el contexto de las capacidades más propiamente ligadas al ámbito contable y otras capacidades relacionadas con la gestión medioambiental aplicadas por las empresas para introducir la EC, el estudio de la EMA bajo el marco teórico de las Dynamic Capabilities es bastante original y representa una aportación de esta tesis ya que permite explorar la relación entre la EC y la EMA que, en estudios anteriores, se había estudiado en relación con la gestión de residuos y las actividades de reciclaje (Qian et al., 2011), los flujos energéticos, de agua y materiales (incluidos los residuos); los costes, los beneficios y los ahorros derivados de las actividades de mejora medioambiental. Con la introducción de actividades relacionadas con la EC, se experimentan cambios en las empresas que implican una modificación de los mecanismos de control en el ámbito de la Parte primera. Introducción  49  sostenibilidad (Qian et al., 2018). Por lo tanto, en este artículo, se refuerza la idea de que el uso de herramientas de EMA está asociado con la gestión de EC y la calidad en el reporting. Las capacidades relacionadas con la EMA medidas en este artículo incluyen la disponibilidad de recursos humanos para actividades de gestión medioambiental, lo que confirma los resultados anteriores obtenidos para la eco-innovación (Scarpellini et al., 2017), y están parcialmente conectados con los valores de los administradores pro-ambientales analizados por LuqueVílchez et al. (2019) para garantizar la calidad de la divulgación medioambiental. Los resultados obtenidos demuestran una relación positiva entre el alcance circular de las empresas, sus prácticas de contabilidad medioambiental y su nivel de RSC. La ejercida por los stakeholders, que tiene un efecto mediador en el “circular scope” de las empresas, también se aborda en esta fase de la tesis, aportando nuevos conocimientos a los estudios recientes sobre la EC a nivel micro. Con estos resultados, esta tesis contribuye a cerrar la brecha entre la investigación académica en el ámbito de la contabilidad ambiental y la investigación académica de EC a nivel micro, ya que se definen unas capacidades específicas de tipo contable de carácter inédito. 1.4 Enfoque metodológico Para dar respuestas fundamentadas a las preguntas formuladas, se opta por aplicar un doble enfoque metodológico, cualitativo y cuantitativo. Cabe mencionar que en la actualidad no se dispone de un indicador integrado que resume el nivel de “circularidad” alcanzado por una empresa a nivel corporativo, tal y como se detalla posteriormente en los artículos que integran esta tesis. Por consiguiente, para la medición interna del alcance de la EC resulta necesario obtener información específica directamente desde aquellas empresas que se hallen inmersas en un cambio pro-ambiental, siendo esta una de las principales limitaciones existentes para la investigación en este campo al tratarse a menudo de datos de carácter confidencial. A su vez, los indicadores existentes no pueden aplicarse a la medición espacial de la introducción de la EC empresarial a nivel territorial, representando uno de los campos de investigación aún abierto a nivel micro. Ante estas premisas, en la primera fase de la investigación se plantea realizar un estudio de caso a nivel regional del nivel de implantación de la EC en el territorio y así definir las principales actividades empresariales relacionadas con el cierre de círculos. El estudio del caso resulta de  50  utilidad para una investigación preliminar pensada para generar ideas, hipótesis o preguntas de investigación que posteriormente se someten a comprobación empírica, permitiendo así una generalización al tener en cuenta el poder explicativo del análisis cualitativo. El análisis de un caso específico empleando la teoría permite comprender la unicidad del alcance territorial de la EC. Para responder a la primera de las preguntas de investigación y definir qué principios de EC son de interés a nivel micro y están siendo introducidos en las empresas, se aplicó un doble enfoque metodológico en un caso de estudio regional en Aragón y se llevaron a cabo 21 entrevistas semi-estructuradas (en profundidad). Estas entrevistas permitieron analizar la percepción acerca del nivel de adopción de la EC y de actividades de cierre de círculos en los diferentes ámbitos social, empresarial y de la administración pública. Más concretamente, en esta tesis se profundiza en los resultados obtenidos de las entrevistas para la definición de las los principios y actividades de interés para las empresas en cuanto a EC (ARTÍCULO 1) y en la definición de los sectores de interés para el análisis cuantitativo. Cabe mencionar que las entrevistas semi-estructuradas también han sido consideradas como un instrumento valioso (Hovik et al., 2015) para la compilación de datos, permitiendo el análisis de territorios y unidades locales con diferentes características. Las entrevistas semiestructuradas también se han utilizado en otros estudios específicos de EC porque permiten procesar información que de otro modo no podría recopilarse sistemáticamente a través de informantes clave (Geng et al., 2009). En síntesis, las fuentes de los datos empleados para esta tesis son los que se detallan a continuación: Figura 1.3. Fuentes de datos empleados para la investigación En una segunda fase de investigación, al objeto de delimitar el alcance circular por sectores y los principios de EC se realiza una clasificación en el territorio por la que, a partir de la Parte primera. Introducción  51  definición de “sector ambiental” propuesta por la OECD (2009) y Eurostat (2009), se consideran los sectores o sub-sectores de residuos como estratégicos para la EC, los que integran las agrupaciones 37, 38 y 39 de la clasificación CNAE (2009) y que reúnen a las empresas de tratamiento y reciclado de residuos, de gestión de los procesos de tratamiento y depuración de aguas residuales, gestión y tratamiento de residuos y otros servicios de gestión de residuos. A las empresas pertenecientes a los sectores de reciclado y residuo se añaden para el análisis regional empresas de los demás sectores industriales, considerados como ‘sensibles’ a la introducción de la EC. A partir de los datos estadísticos autonómicos de los sectores anteriormente descritos, se calcula el impacto socioeconómico (fundamentalmente empleo, materias primas y volumen de negocio) derivado de actividad relacionada con la EC en empresas, estimada a través del porcentaje de las actividades relacionadas con la EC que estas han introducido (aprox. 6%). Esto puede estimarse a partir de la definición de las actividades que las empresas hayan introducido en la actualidad que tenga impacto y/o relación con el cierre de círculos planteado por la EC (ARTÍCULO 2), como una de las aportaciones metodológicas de esta tesis (ARTICULOS 1 y 2). A continuación, se realiza un análisis empírico de las referidas actividades por parte de las empresas (Artículo 3). En la tercera fase de investigación, se procede a realizar un análisis y medición de los recursos y capacidades específicas en el ámbito de conocimiento de la economía financiera y la contabilidad. A tal fin se opta por la aplicación de una metodología de ecuaciones estructurales (PLS-SEM) a una muestra de empresas, que permite caracterizar los recursos financieros aplicados a las actividades de EC de las empresas y la relación entre estos recursos y el alcance de EC empresarial. El análisis se realizó a través de encuestas que se enviaron a empresas que colaboraron con un proyecto de I+D en el noreste de España. Las empresas seleccionadas tienen más de 50 empleados, al considerarse el tamaño como un factor que facilita los procesos eco-innovadores (Aboelmaged, 2018; Triguero et al., 2015; Wagner, 2007; Zhang y Walton, 2017) y se consideró como una característica relevante de las empresas para la transición de un modelo lineal a un modelo circular. Para la muestra se seleccionaron empresas que operan en sectores con mayor potencial para la incorporación de la EC en sus procesos y con proactividad hacia la ecoinnovación, el eco-diseño y la EC. Se consideraron por lo tanto empresas de los sectores relacionados con las tecnologías incluidas en las "Mejores Técnicas Disponibles", los llamados "BREF": industrial, transporte y logística, residuos, industria extractiva, industria manufacturera, electricidad, gas, vapor y aire acondicionado, suministro de agua,  52  alcantarillado, gestión de residuos, y su transporte y almacenamiento. En estos sectores, la introducción de los principios de la EC es tanto necesaria como tecnológicamente factible (European Commission, 2017). La muestra se obtuvo a partir de una población de 2.232 empresas elaboradas a partir de la base de datos SABI, que proporciona las principales cifras económicas y financieras de las empresas de la península ibérica. Se enviaron un total de 996 cuestionarios por correo electrónico a las empresas de la población inicial de las que se disponía de información de contacto detallada. Finalmente, se obtuvieron 110 respuestas, 87 de ellas se consideraron observaciones válidas a efectos de esta tesis, lo que representa una muestra del 8.8% del total. Cabe mencionar que al disponer del código de identificación fiscal (CIF) de estas empresas pudieron obtenerse sus datos económicos y financieros para el análisis. El desarrollo y aplicación de la metodología se detallan en los artículos cuarto y quinto. A través de esta metodología se avanza en el conocimiento de la medición interna de la EC a través de la definición de un constructo que permite la medición del alcance de las actividades relacionadas con la EC a nivel de empresas (“circular scope”). Este constructo se relaciona con los recursos financieros, aún poco estudiados en la literatura, que las empresas aplican a las actividades de EC (ARTICULO 4) y con las capacidades de las empresas relacionadas con el nivel de adopción de EC. En particular, a través de la metodología de ecuaciones estructurales se definen y miden las capacidades de contabilidad medioambiental de las que disponen las empresas para gestionar de forma eficiente a los recursos aplicados a la EC, siendo esta una de las aportaciones metodológicas relevante en cuanto a su medición y análisis (ARTICULO 5). El enfoque metodológico planteado puede describirse gráficamente como se muestra en la Figura 1.4. Parte primera. Introducción  53  Figura 1.4. Doble enfoque metodológico a lo largo delas tres fases de la investigación En resumen, en esta tesis se aplican varios métodos y enfoques de análisis. La metodología cualitativa de estudio de casos regional se aplica para obtener un primer nivel de resultados, dirigido a la definición de indicadores para la medición del alcance de la EC en empresas para su aplicación a la contabilidad directiva y al control de gestión. La información recabada de las entrevistas semi-estructuradas permite medir el impacto de la actividad empresarial ligada a la EC, como primer desarrollo metodológico novedoso que aporta esta tesis. A este se añade la definición de un constructo inédito para la medición del alcance de la EC implantada por las empresas, siendo un indicador integrado que no se había desarrollado con anterioridad. Los resultados obtenidos a través de la aplicación de las metodologías descritas en este apartado se detallan en los artículos que integran esta tesis y que se incluyen en los siguientes apartados. levels in relation to quality offered, and deliver detailed information to customers about products and services. Simultaneously, the CE model can include generating new jobs, improving employees’quality of life, and linking a system’s functioning with the social dimension of management in organisations (Mathews and Tan 2011). Major schools of thought related to the circular economy emerged in the 1970s and were introduced by Pearce and Kerry Turner (1990), but gained prominence in the 1990s. They include the functional service economy, natural capitalism, or ‘cradle to cradle’principles (Urbinati, Chiaroni, and Chiesa 2017). In more developed stages, the CE falls within the field of industrial ecology (Li et al.2010; Pitk€ anen et al.2016), as within the industrial symbiosis between local companies with different production processes (Andersen 2007). Territoriality is one of the key issues of the CE, because it is based on the principle that waste should be processed close to its point of origin (Kama 2015). It has been argued that the CE represents an opportunity to achieve a paradigm shift from the current linear model to a low-carbon, zero-waste economy. In this model, local and regional authorities can play an important role in both the launch of and transition to a CE (Yi and Liu 2015). Therefore, the CE should be translated into environmental regional planning, which means a long-term economic restructuring of the territory. Taking such a path would facilitate the establishment of integrated markets. In the European Union (EU), for example, the CE would result in limited circulation of waste within the European borders (Kama 2015; Prendeville et al.2016). Different factors, such as the industrial situation, regional business, innovation level, and legislative profile at the regional or local level, condition the development of the CE in a territory (Coats and Benton 2015; Fang, C^ ot e, and Qin 2007). In general terms, definition of CE development policies in the mediumand longterm in the EU is part of the multilevel interaction of environmental legislation, and different actors in the institutional, social, and business environments are considered in this planning process. The implications of the CE’s deployment in terms of regional governance are also highlighted (Matti, Consoli, and Uyarra 2016). However, certain authors have warned that integrated planning of environmental and social aspects, combined with economic aspects, may lead to situations where economic factors take precedence over local development (Datta 2012; Pickvance 2000). To date, studies that have addressed the implementation of the CE from a regional standpoint (Ernst and Young 2016; Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2015b; Pitk€ anen et al.2016), or those that have experienced rapid development, such as China (Geng et al.2009; Geng, Haight, and Zhu 2007;Suet al.2013), are still scarce; and methodologies that can be applied to measure the introduction of the CE in a specific territory are still under investigation. Thus, analysis of the CE’s impact from a regional approach is considered a relevant line of inquiry for the environmental planning required to promote the CE. Because the focus in the European Union (EU) has been on regions, measuring CE–eco-innovations is an especially relevant issue at the regional level (Smol, Kulczycka, and Avdiushchenko 2017). In order to measure the CE, Elia, Grazi Gnoni, and Tornese (2017) provide a list of macro, meso, and micro indicators for the CE, and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has developed a metric that assesses circularity at the product and company levels (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2015b). Macro-level indicators that measure the sociometabolic impact of the CE are generally better developed than micro-level indicators (Geng et al.2012; Linder, Sarasini, and van Loon 2017) that have been applied to measure the CE implementation in business, mainly through case studies. For regional 2212 S. Scarpellini et al. environmental policy and management, Smol, Kulcycka, and Avdiushchenko (2017) developed indicators that are mainly based on the interrelationship between the CE and eco-innovation, with particular emphasis on the development of regions. Nevertheless, there are few specific empirical investigations of the relationship between awareness and the level of introduction of CE activities in a territory. Since this is a less researched area, the main objective of this study is to measure the adoption of CE activities and its impact to increase knowledge about the territorial dimensions of the CE. The approach used in this study is not specifically theory-driven and the research objective is generating knowledge about how to measure the CE’s impact and its penetration in a territory. Nevertheless, a summarised theoretical approach is presented in the following section to outline the general scope of the research. A qualitative case study based on a Spanish region is described in the third section, which focuses on the background to this research. Finally, the results are discussed, followed by the main conclusions. 2. Background In general terms, we can state that the CE exists at the intersection of the environmental and economic aspects of the sustainable development framework (Bina 2013; Van Griethuysen 2002). The introduction of the concept has been attributed to the seminal works of Pearce and Turner (1990), where the term CE was applied to explain how economies work while considering the important implications of the environment-economy interaction. In this sense, they consider that the environment provides three economic functions: resource supplier, waste assimilator, and a direct source of utility. The shift from the linear model to a circular one involves consideration of the waste that appears in all phases of the productive process (resources-processes-products). Waste should be considered an additional economic resource with economic value that must be properly managed in a sustainable way (recycle, reuse, reduce), because excess generation of waste hinders the three environmental functions that must be served. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2015b) conceptualises the CE as an alternative to the current take-make-dispose extractive industrial model based on the provision of large amounts of energy and other cheap and easily accessible resources. At the core of the CE is the need to close the circular flow of materials; the use of raw materials and resources is repeated throughout multiple phases (Yuan, Bi, and Moriguichi 2006). Therefore, based on the theoretical premise that the economic system is an open subsystem of the ecological system of land and limited resources, a certain environmental capacity is related to the CE (Li et al.2010). Starting from the broader definitions available in the literature, the CE is defined in this study through its objectives, the activities that are necessary to implement it, or the results obtained in a CE model. The main objective of the CE is the integration of resources and environmental factors into the economy; this objective is reached by proposing a defined material metabolism of ‘resource-product-resource’that is compatible with the ecosystem through which mechanisms for the efficient use of waste are interspersed (Li et al.2010). Thus, from the perspective of environmental economics, the CE uses the principle of material equilibrium (Kneese 1973), which implies that all material flows should be considered, although economic values rather than physical flows will guide their management (Andersen 2007). The activities included in the CE are mainly performed within the framework of industrial ecology (Andersen 2007; Isenmann 2003; Yuan, Bi, and Moriguichi 2006), Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 2213 which involves re-manufacturing (Veleva and Bodkin 2017) and recycling waste and by-products through closed loops. An example of such an activity is industrial symbiosis (Ehrenfeld and Gertler 1997; Gibbs 2008; Jacobsen 2006; Mirata and Emtairah 2005). In a broad sense, the CE promotes activities aimed at resource minimisation and adoption of cleaner technologies (Andersen 1999) in the application of eco-efficiency (Huppes and Ishikawa 2005). From another point of view, the outcomes of the CE include waste minimisation, environmental conservation, and energy efficiency (Liu et al.2009), which are applicable to all human activities (Yuan, Bi, and Moriguichi 2006), as well as the social dimensions of these activities (Zhijun and Nailing 2007; Geng et al.2009). In summary, we may consider the CE to be a type of environmental management at different levels: national or regional (macro), industrial (meso), and company or single process (micro) (Ghisellini, Cialani, and Ulgiati 2016; Mathews and Tan 2011; PortilloTarragona et al.2017). The communication “Towards a Circular Economy: A Zero Waste Programme for Europe”(European Commission 2014) laid the foundations for the promotion of the CE in EU member countries, along with the European Commission communication entitled “Closing the Loop: An EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy”(European Commission 2015). These communications suggest that the CE can maintain the added value of products as long as possible by minimising the waste generated. In summary, the CE in EU countries makes it possible to boost competitiveness and growth, acting as a stimulus for local and regional development, creating new opportunities and jobs, and avoiding irreversible environmental damage (European Commission 2015). In this field, the European regulation of waste has increased in recent decades, and this process stemmed from the need to transform waste into resources (Hultman and Corvellec 2012;Watson2009). In the EU territory, good practices were selected to foment selective waste collection (European Commission 2016a);andenergyvalorisation in the CE framework has been promoted to optimise raw material consumption. The EU’s waste and environmental policy is implemented through the European Waste Hierarchy (European Commission 2008), in addition to other rules on implementation of waste management and classification (European Commission 2005, 2011; Haas et al.2015). In fact, environmental issues have become part of the wider European debate on how a regional government (Connick and Innes 2003; Setzer 2014; Van Zeijl-Rozema et al.2008) can improve local and regional economic competitiveness (Gibbs and Jonas 2001) within broader institutional policy processes (Brenner 1998,2009; Pearce 1992). It should be noted that the national view is relegated to the background, particularly in relation to the European regulation of environmental issues and territorial management (Bachmann 2015; Lenschow 1999). With these premises, the implementation of the CE at the regional level could be carried out through integrated waste management and other local initiatives for industrial symbiosis or eco-parks, to progressively close the loops and equalise the inputs and outputs of all processes in a territory, englobing all of society (Yuan, Bi, and Moriguichi 2006). 2.1. Regional measurement of the circular economy and its impact At a regional level, different conceptual positions can be noted in the literature, which should be considered at the territorial level when defining a model to be applied in a 2214 S. Scarpellini et al. territory. In research on sustainable consumption and production, certain approaches can be classified as ‘reformist’(Geels et al.2015) The ‘reformist’position represents political and academic orthodoxy, proposes a change towards environmental sustainability, but without urgency, and maintains some features of the current status quo (Geels et al.2015). This approach could be considered as adequate for the CE at a regional level for environmental planning. We should note, however, that the landscape of regional governance in environmental settings is heterogeneous (Andrews and Boyne 2008; Gibbs and Jonas 2001; Romero, Jim enez, and Villoria 2012) and is linked to the spatial planning debate (Schaffrin, Sewerin, and Seubert 2014; Schafer and Gallemore 2016) on the availability and management of resources because of industry (Chen et al.2010; Danson and Lloyd 2012; Hughes and Pincetl 2014; Brinkley 2014). This dependence requires decentralised territorial solutions that are based on new strategies and integrated policies and that have been developed in cooperation with different economic sectors (Hovik et al.2015; van Straalen, Janssen-Jansen, and van den Brink 2014). The debate on the competence and effectiveness of regional administrations, which is linked to existing disparities, spatial economic policy, and the process of decentralisation in European countries, remains open (Pike et al.2012). Undoubtedly, the CE should be implemented at a regional level and measures to promote CE are classified in Table 1 according to the CE barriers pointed out by different authors (Morlet et al. 2016;Suet al.2013; Xue et al.2010). Starting with the studies analysed, as shown in Table 1, the introduction of CE indicators at a regional level could be focused on the technological improvements that are necessary (eco-innovation and industrial ecology) for businesses, and the financial resources needed to undertake investments (resources and economic benefits), as well as the incentives for CE promotion carried out by public administrations, and social interests as stakeholders who are related to the territorial aspects intrinsic to the CE and, finally, to the society. These considerations seek to analyse CE from three different perspectives: private sector, public administration and society to define regional barriers and drivers to be considered for CE measurement in a territory and the consequent regional environmental planning activity. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no theoretical framework that can be applied to all CE principles in a spatial context and the measurement methods that have been applied at regional levels have achieved segmented or partial results. Among indicators and main tools that could be applied to the measurement of CE at regional level, LCA has been highighted as a method for linking territorial sustainability to European environmental policy (Loiseau et al.2014), and Genovese et al. (2017) apply LCA in an input-output model and carbon emission indicators in a regional context. Daddi, Nucci, and Iraldo (2017) consider lifecycle assessment (LCA) an adequate method for identifying the advantages and benefits of common resources for different impact categories concerning the regional environment, and Geissdoerfer et al.(2017) analyse studies focused on geographic regions that consider the main aspects of the CE to be environmental impact, resource scarcity, and economic benefits. Indicators and methodologies such as material flows accounting (MFA) have been applied to measure industrial symbiosis and other forms of industry collaboration (Linder and Williander 2017). Material flows have been used to measure the CE within specific regions or industrial ecosystems in the framework of industrial ecology Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 2215 (Genovese et al.2017), optimising materials and energy flows among facilities in a territory based on long-term economic growth and innovation (Braungart, McDonough, and Bollinger 2007). Other specific indexes have been proposed to assess CE adoption at the regional level, such as the index method developed by Jiang (2011) to measure social development originating from the adoption of the CE paradigm. In the regional CE development index proposed by these authors, resource consumption is studied based on reduction principles, as well as recycling, and social development that covers economic and social components of CE. In this line, Huysman et al.(2017) propose indicators based on the technical quality of plastic waste by defining four options from less to more circularity of the technology applied. From another perspective, Smol, Kulcycka, and Avdiushchenko (2017) developed regional indicators of eco-innovation as a first step in the elaboration of specific CE measurements and to offer a systematic and integrated approach for the CE concept at the regional level. These authors affirm that eco-innovation indicators can be used in Table 1. Classification of measures to promote CE at regional level. Studies Description Measures Technological (Geng et al. 2007;Suet al.2013; Van Berkel et al.2009) The businesses’ technological profile conditions the implementation of CE processes. -Programmes to stimulate changes in industrial fabrication. -Promotion of high technology and clean technology industries. -Programmes to stimulate the development, registration, commercialisation, and acquisition of green patents. Financial (Geng et al.2009; Pajunen et al.2013;Suet al. 2013; Van Berkel et al.2009) Accessing adequate financial resources (quantity, cost, and maturity) to finance investments conditions the viability of the CE. -Access to adequate financial resources (quantity, cost, and maturity) to finance investments in the CE. -Creation of special funds, loans, and financial services that permit risk sharing with local industries. -Financial advisory services to reduce risks and improve productivity. Social (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2015a; Geng et al.2012; Geng et al.2009; Yuan, Bi, and Moriguichi 2006) Participation in and raising awareness of different economic and social agents that favour the CE. -Training programmes in different environments. -Disclosure of best practices. -Disclosure of information about environmental, financial, and social results obtained by implementing the CE. Localisation (Coats and Benton 2015; Fang, C^ ot e, and Qin 2007; Lee, Pedersen, and Thomsen 2014; Mirata and Emtairah 2005; Pitk€ anen et al.2016) The industrial, business, innovation, and legislative profile at the regional or local level conditions the development of the CE. -Homogeneous regional legislative framework for the development of the CE. -Regional collaboration programmes on technological and financial level. 2216 S. Scarpellini et al. the current transition stage for assessing the implementation of regional policy and as a base for creating CE indicators. Despite these studies, we can affirm that to the best of our knowledge, there is no analysis that addresses the main objective of this paper. Finally, regarding measurement of CE impacts in a regional context, Korhonen, Honkasalo, and Sepp€ al€ a(2018) study the economic gain from the CE through reductions in raw material and energy costs as well as emissions, and the social gain in terms of employment and the implementation of a sharing economy. Franklin-Johnson, Figge, and Canning (2016) present performance metrics (called “the longevity indicator”) that measure contribution to material retention based on the time a resource is in use. In the private sector, business has demonstrated an increasing interest in a circular model, but deep research on CE assessment and indicators for companies located in a specific region is still lacking. Smol, Kulcycka, and Avdiushchenko (2017) propose different metrics to measure exports of products from eco-industries in a region, employment generated by ecoindustries and the CE (% of total employment across all companies), and revenue in eco-industries that is considered directly related to the CE. Nevertheless, there are a few specific empirical investigations on the relationship between the awareness and behaviour of firms and the CE, in particular on the micro level (Elia, Gnoni, and Tornese 2017). Based on the literature related to the CE and regional development policy, a multidisciplinary analysis is posed as a methodological contribution that aims to define the main activities underpinning the CE at regional level from a holistic perspective and the points of view of society, public administrations, and private companies. For the purposes of this study, the main CE activities have been classified and used to measure the CE in a regional case study by answering the following research questions based on previous literature: (a) How can the level of adoption of the CE be measured in a specific territory? (b) What is the impact of the CE in a territory and how can it be estimated? Due to the interest of the EU in promoting the CE and its relevance in territorial and local scope, it is important to know how the principles and actions of the CE have been implemented in the regions that make up the EU. For this reason, and due to the scarcity of regional studies within the EU, this study conducts specific measurement of the CE and its impact in a regional case study of the Spanish region of Arag on to increase knowledge about the territorial dimensions of the CE and assess the impact of applying the CE in quantitative terms through a measurement method that is explained in the following section. 3. Regional case study The Spanish region of Aragon was selected as a case study, given a commitment by the regional government to the authors that enabled an analysis of the territorial impact of the CE and definition of the main actions to be implemented to foment the circular model 1 . This region comprised 1,317,847 inhabitants in 2015, distributed among 731 municipalities; more than 50% of the population was concentrated in the region’s Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 2217 capital (the city of Zaragoza). The region has a low population density (25 inhabitants/ km 2 ) and the negative migration balance should also be noted –since 2005, the population in 75% of its municipalities has fallen (Portillo-Tarragona et al.2017). Its territorial characteristics and the abundance of resources (CESA 2016) that characterise this region make it suitable for analysing the deployment of the CE at a regional level and it can be considered as an adequate case study to apply the methodology to measure the level of CE in the territory. Arag on is classified as NUTS2 and represents a fairly standard territory in terms of economic figures; its GDP and economic productivity are on a par with the Spanish average, while the employment rate and per capita income are slightly above average. Economic activity is quite diversified, and Arag on is considered a strategic region in logistics due to its proximity to France and the largest industrial centres in Spain. The region is an interesting case to study similar regions within the EU (Marco-Fondevila, Moneva Abad ıa, and Scarpellini 2018). 3.1. Methodological focus In this case study, a double-focus qualitative methodology was applied to investigate the research questions. Semi-structured (in-depth) interviews were conducted in the second semester of 2016 to analyse perceptions of the adoption of CE-related main activities in the region at different levels: society, public administrations, and the private sector. Parallel desk research was carried out to estimate the impact of the CE in the region with a set of indicators. The initial literature review was made through the Scopus database to search for previous studies that relate the regional scope with the circular economy. Secondly, specific journals were also analysed to find studies on regional environmental planning and policy. Finally, the literature related to other topics, such as the methodology to be applied and metrics for CE, were also analysed. The questions in the interviews were designed in accordance with other studies that have concentrated on the regional level (B€ ohringer and Bortolamedi 2015; Murphy, Huggins, and Thompson 2015; Mehmet 1995; Picazo-Tadeo and Garc ıaReche 2007). Specifically, the methodology for the analysis was adapted to fit the regional context in which CE were in an incipient state of implementation (Everingham et al.2013). Semi-structured interviews have also been regarded as a valuable instrument (Hovik et al.2015) for data compilation, enabling the analysis of territories and local units with different characteristics. Semi-structured interviews have also been used in other CE-specific studies because they allow for processing information that otherwise could not be systematically collected through key informants (Geng et al.2009). In this field, Hultman and Corvellec (2012) conducted open-ended interviews to discuss the policy of preventing the production of waste. Likewise, in the renewables sector, the purpose of the 12 in-depth interviews carried out by Matti, Consoli, and Uyarra (2016) was to gain insights into energy-policy implementation, technological development, and regional strategies. From a different perspective, this sort of interview has been used for data triangulation, both with company data and information about policies, regulation, and the business environment (Zhu and He 2015) for local governance. 2218 S. Scarpellini et al. The CE in the region was measured through 21 interviews with experts selected by the authors as key informants, according to the guidelines of the commitment. Due to the general objective of the study, one-third of the interviewees represents the regional public administrations, one-third represents society, and one-third represents companies or the business sector. Owing to confidentiality agreements with the interviewees, their identities remain with the authors; however, the complete list of the organisations for the interviewees is provided in the Annex to this study (Table A1 [online supplementary data]). The interviews were organised into three sections, and each section was mainly composed of five open-ended questions provided in Table A2 (Annex [online supplementary data]), where the sources of the variables used to define the questions are cited (Table A2 [online supplementary data]), in addition to some authors that used these main variables. Some of the questions were answered by experts using a Likert scale 2 . For the desk research on the measurement of the regional impact of the CE, different metrics were elaborated and applied to the case study. Three basic indicators were selected to synthesise the estimation of direct and indirect impacts of the CE in these sectors at the regional level: the businesses turnover, the employment related to CE activities and the volume of raw materials consumption in selected industries (Table 2). These metrics have been applied in this study to define the impact of the CE in the region being analysed. This is consistent with previous studies, especially those proposed by Korhonen, Honkasalo, and Sepp€ al€ a(2018) and Smol, Kulcycka, and Avdiushchenko (2017). These metrics were measures in the business sector through a complementary analysis based on the consideration that waste industries are directly related to the CE and other industrial sectors can be considered as ‘sensitive to introduce the CE activities’, because they operate in sectors related to those technologies described in the documents about the best available technologies (EIPPCB-TWG 2003; European Commission 2003,2009; European IPPC Bureau 2006). Thus, the indirect impact of the CE can be estimated by analysing CE adoption by industries in the sectors described in the BREF (European Directive 2010/75/EU), and the direct impact of the CE at regional level would be generated by businesses operating in the waste treatment and recycling sectors. Table 2. Estimated impact of activities related to the CE in Aragon for the year 2015 (Instituto Aragon es de Estad ıstica, 2014, http://www.aragon.es/DepartamentosOrganismosPublicos/ Institutos/InstitutoAragonesEstadistica). Estimation of current situation (for the year 2015 using 2014 data) Turnover (thousands of euros) Total jobs Total raw material purchases (thousands of euros) Total Aragon industrial sectors 23,219,450 85,099 9,129,947 Direct CE impact on treatment and waste-recycling sectors 210,637 4,065 131,229 Estimated indirect impact of CE activities on sensitive sectors 1,147,611 4,007 401,631 Total estimated impact 1,358,248 8,072 532,860 % of total volume of Aragon industrial sector 5.8% 9.5% 5.8% Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 2219 4. Main results The first part of the analysis summarises the perception of experts about the level of penetration of CE main activities in the region from the points of view of public administrations, society, and private companies. The interviews were segmented, as appropriate, according to the answers provided by the experts in the three study areas. The opinions of the interviewees about the position of regional administrations with regards to the CE reveal there is an incipient engagement of the public sector limited by the lack of a specific budget for promotion of the CE and the inadequate regulation in the regions for this model. The majority of interviewees representing public administrations noted the public sector’s favourable predisposition towards the CE, but the principal limitations to its effective implementation are the administrative procedures and limited inclusion of CE principles in the specifications of public contracts. The inclusion of CE in political programmes on national and regional levels in the EU was considered a positive indicator for CE adoption in the near future, although greater coordination is demanded. The majority of the respondents suggested that administrations must foment the traceability of by-products, even though there are some problems related to multi-competition for environmental regulation between administrations at the regional, national, and EU levels. Competencies exist in regions within the EU for promoting CE activities, although a quarter of the interviewees indicated that the existing subsidiarity in the EU, the central government, and the regional government undoubtedly hinder the attainment of some objectives related to the CE and the environment. Another section of the semi-structured interview was focused on adoption by society of the most relevant and feasible activities that could be pursued by the region’s consumers in the framework of the CE, as follows: To implement high-quality separation of waste at home (SEPW) To implement the ‘economy of services’, which implies substituting renting for buying (SERV) To develop a wide market for second-hand products (SECO) To consume products made from completely recycled materials (TOTR). Analysis of consumer perceptions in the region about adopting these activities to introduce the CE allows us to identify feasible habit changes in the near future. The results indicate that the CE activities considered more viable and relevant at present for the region’s society are high-quality separation of waste (SEPW) in the home and a market for second-hand products (SECO). In fact, both activities attained a score of 3 and 4 from most of the experts. The results obtained in terms of the relevance of these activities are shown in Figure 1, where 4 indicates the highest relevance of the activity and 1 indicates “least relevant”. It can be observed that the lowest score was assigned to the use of products totally manufactured using recycled materials (TOTR), since most of the interviewees (55%) considered it a least relevant activity. The experts’opinion regarding these CE activities is that the sharing economy will increase in the near future in municipalities and private companies, because those entities are already using services rather than property of goods if it is economically feasible. Nevertheless, this is a long-term issue that will be accepted much more slowly in households. One interviewee (a representative of a 2220 S. Scarpellini et al. private firm) pointed out that “in a Mediterranean society, there is still a lack of standards for the provision of these services and it is difficult to understand relative prices.” With regard to the sale of products made using recycled materials, the opinion expressed by some respondents was that “the purchase of these products should be encouraged and more detailed information about product lifecycle analysis, their ecological footprint, and other environmental indicators would have to be provided to consumers, rather than specific actions in regard to only the materials recycled.” Most of the interviewees believe the second-hand market already exists and does not need special stimulus. However, in the region’s households, although recycling is practised at noticeable levels, high-quality separation requires other logistical collection systems, particularly in urban areas and the regional capital. Some interviewees noted the need to apply progressive taxes for the collection and management of household waste. The majority opinion of the interviewees is that education in schools is fundamental for implementation of the CE and that, despite being a very slow process, this method increases sustainability and, therefore, the CE in the region. In addition, it was clarified that there was little social interest in this type of economy. It may be inferred that, in the opinion of the interviewees, social interest will increase, albeit gradually, provided that it does not excessively influence the price of products. In the third section of the semi-structured interviews, specific questions were asked about CE implementation in the private sector, to determine the most relevant and feasible CE activities that have been adopted by companies in the region. The selected activities for this part of the analysis are described as follows: Waste valorisation (VALW) Carrying out dematerialisation and product eco-design (DES) Consumption of secondary raw materials for production (recycled) (REC) Figure 1. Relevance of the principal CE measurements for the domestic sphere at regional level. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 2221 (2017) because direct and indirect impacts are considered directly related to the CE without encompassing the Eco-Innovation Scoreboard indicators. In addition, in response to Korhonen, Honkasalo, and Sepp€ al€ a(2018), this study confirms that the economic win related to the CE can be achieved by reducing raw materials; and the social win related to employment will be more effective as CE activities are implemented at all regional levels. Using the drivers and barriers defined through the interviews and the explored impact of CE implementation in the region, the main measures to be included in regional environmental plans are described in Figure 5, organised in different scenarios depending on the intensity with which CE activities are introduced at the regional level. As a general consideration resulting from the qualitative analysis performed in the case study, an action plan for the CE in the region should include: cross-cutting measures (economic grants and incentives, promotion of eco-innovation, training for new professionals’skills, etc.); sectoral measures (particularly those aimed to foment the CE in all business sectors); territorial measures (specifically designed at the territorial level); and governance measures (indicators, standards, planning, organised markets, etc.). Given the difficulty of defining and measuring a comprehensive economic system such as that which arises with the CE, proposing an analysis of the level of implementation of CE activities in different scenarios can guide institutional intervention at the regional level to reflect the connections between the CE and related spheres of society, business, and public administrations. This consideration confirms the heterogeneous landscape of regional governance in environmental settings (Andrews and Boyne 2008; Gibbs and Jonas 2001; Romero, Jim enez, and Villoria 2012) and the idea that introduction of the CE in industries is affected by the availability and management of raw resources. Thus, decentralised territorial solutions are needed and must be Figure 5. Main measures to be included in the environmental regional plans for different scenarios depending on the intensity of the level of CE adopted at regional level. 2228 S. Scarpellini et al. developed in cooperation with different economic sectors, consistent with the previous contributions in this field summarised in Section 2 (Hovik et al.2015; van Straalen, Janssen-Jansen, and van den Brink 2014). For private businesses, regional planning could foster the eco-design of products with the aim of facilitating recovery of their components and materials; for public administrations, planning activity can introduce public procurement and promotion of new and innovative business models for collecting waste and products; and for society, sharing economy models and implementation of inverse logistical solutions through which consumer products are collected to be returned to the supply chain could be promoted through environmental planning. The effective implementation of the CE at the territorial level will undoubtedly require generation of certain favourable conditions to help businesses transition towards closed loops, and regions must play a role in aiming for these objectives. 6. Conclusions In this study, the definition and measurement of the CE penetration at the regional level and its main impacts are discussed through a qualitative case study of a Spanish region. The main results confirm that the CE will be relevant in the future, but its effective implementation in the EU at regional level is long-term and requires intervention by territorial administrations. In this context, the success of implementing CE models will partly depend on local and regional environmental planning that must be designed to respond to the needs of different spheres. However, knowledge of CE measurement and its impacts at the regional level is still limited, and more territorial planning policies are needed for broader deployment in the midand long term. The main contribution of this study is the method of measuring regional adoption of the CE (the activities, barriers and incentives), and further the impact of the CE. Definitions of the adoption of the CE have been analysed from the different perspectives of society, public administrations, and the private sector dimensioning and ranking main CE activities that are considered as relevant in territory. The measurement of CE-related impacts in the regional study case was calculated using the three main indicators of employment, turnover, and the volume of raw materials consumption over the mediumand long-term. The results highlight that the impact of the CE in the region is considered very low at present and is going to increase gradually, despite the introduction of moderate incentives by the regional government, an increase in the price of raw materials, and a predictable increase in the availability of secondary raw materials that meet the standards necessary for introduction into manufacturing processes in a scenario of greater waste technology maturity. The method and framework applied for this study can be used in many regions, even with different contexts to the regional case. The contributions achieved in this study in terms of measurement are not without limitations: in particular, we should note the limited number of both experts interviewed and variables. In addition, the empirical evidence used in the study is primarily qualitative in nature and therefore further effort is needed to measure the CE impact in a territory. Therefore, this study provides information that is of interest at different levels, both for policy makers and public administrations (for decision making and defining regional policies and plans), as well as for business practitioners (for defining adequate strategies for future implementation of the CE at the territorial level). For academics, the contributions centre on important methodological aspects that may be used when Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 2229 analysing CE measurement in a territory, and, in particular, with regard to the debate on local and regional governance; this work can be used to co-determine CE implementation in a territory based on its spatial and organisational structure. Supplementary materials Supplementary data for this article can be accessed here. Disclosure statement No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. Notes 1. It has to be taken into account that the results analysed in this paper are based on a section of a regional study promoted and financed by the Economic and Social Council of the Regional Government of Aragon (Consejo Econ omico y Social de Arag on –CESA) in the framework of the contract “Level of implementation of circular economy principles in businesses and public administration in Aragon: actions for its socioeconomic promotion and impact in the Autonomous Community of Aragon”during the second semester of 2016. 2. All the interviews were analysed in an aggregated manner using a qualitative method. In addition, experts were asked to assign a value to each opinion using a Likert scale ranging from 0 to 10, with 0 being the score that expresses total disagreement or that the interviewee believes the statement to be of no relevance, and 10 being the highest valuation, expressing total agreement or that the interviewees believed the statement to be highly relevant. From the Likert scale thus constructed, the opinions expressed were divided into three levels, with 0–3 being “slightly or not at all relevant”,4–7“moderately relevant”, and equal to or greater than 8 “very relevant”. Funding This empirical work was conducted within the framework of the study promoted and financed by the Economic and Social Council of Arag on (Consejo Econ omico y Social de Arag on – CESA) on the “Level of implementation of the principles of the circular economy in businesses and public administration in Arag on: actions for its promotion and socio-economic impact on the Autonomous Community of Arag on”(“Nivel de implantaci on de los principios de econom ıa circular en las empresas y la administraci on p ublica en Arag on: actuaciones para su fomento e impacto Socio-econ omico en la Comunidad Aut onoma de Arag on”). We would like to express our special thanks to the experts and representatives of the bodies that collaborated through semi-structured interviews and played a fundamental role as ‘key informants’. The writing of this article has been partially financed by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (ECO2013-45599-R and ECO2016-74920-C2-1-R). ORCID Sabina Scarpellini http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7077-5352 Pilar Portillo-Tarragona http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7105-4618 Alfonso Aranda-Us on http://orcid.org/000-0001-6673-4945 Fernando Llena-Macarulla http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8020-0229 2230 S. Scarpellini et al. References Agrawal, Saurabh, Rajesh K. Singh, and Qasim Murtaza. 2015. “A Literature Review and Perspectives in Reverse Logistics.”Resources, Conservation and Recycling 97: 76–92. doi: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2015.02.009. 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Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 2237  108  Definición y medición de la adopción de la economía circular en empresas Contribución de los estudios realizados 109  2.3 The progressive adoption of a circular economy by businesses for cleaner production: An approach from a regional study in Spain (Artículo 3) ARTICULO: Aranda-Usón, A., Portillo-Tarragona, P. Scarpellini, S., Llena-Macarulla, F. (2019 on-line) The progressive adoption of a circular economy by businesses for cleaner production: An approach from a regional study in Spain. Journal of Cleaner Production. IN PRESS - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119648 EDITORIAL: Elsevier - ISSN 0959-6526 Publicación INDEXADA JCR (2018): 6.395 Q1 Category Name Impact Factor (2018) Quartile Rank Quartile in Category ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE 6,395 18/250 Q1 ENGINEERING, ENVIRONMENTAL 6,395 8/52 Q1 GREEN & SUSTAINABLE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 6,395 6/35 Q1 Aportación inherente al área de conocimiento: Desarrollo de indicadores de contabilidad de gestión medioambiental y de control de gestión para la implantación de la economía circular en empresas. Dimensionamiento de procesos internos de mejora medioambiental para el reporting y la Responsabilidad Social Corporativa.  110  Definición y medición de la adopción de la economía circular en empresas Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (xxxx) 119648 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Cleaner Production journal homepage: http://ees.elsevier.com The progressive adoption of a circular economy by businesses for cleaner production: An approach from a regional study in Spain Alfonso Aranda-Usóna, Pilar Portillo-Tarragonab, Sabina Scarpellinia,∗, Fernando Llena-Macarullab aUniversity of Zaragoza, Department of Accounting and Finance and CIRCE Research Institute, Spain bUniversity of Zaragoza, Department of Accounting and Finance, Spain ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 27 April 2019 Received in revised form 7 December 2019 Accepted 9 December 2019 Available online xxx Handling editor: Prof. Jiri Jaromir Klemeš Keywords Cleaner production Circular economy Environmental management accounting Sustainability accounting Regional planning ABSTRACT The literature on the circular economy at the micro-level has mainly focused on the analysis of the circular business model and implementation of different circular-related practices, but the process of adoption by businesses of the circular economy is still under investigation. Therefore, through a study in the region of Aragón, Spain, the main circular economy-related activities implemented by a sample of 52 businesses are classified into four levels as an approach to the change process that firms can undergo to adopt the circular economy. In summary, it can be stated that circular economy-related activities are being introduced by businesses progressively, from a minor activity to a greater number of activities, but that these activities do not respond to the incremental closure of material loops within the circular economy framework. The applied indicators enhance the knowledge on the environmental management accounting applied to the CE for the reporting and the relations with stakeholders. In addition, the measurement of the introduction of the circular economy in different businesses is relevant for practitioners and for policy makers, in response to the institutional initiatives for the promotion of the circular economy at the territorial level. © 2019 1. Introduction In response to global environmental degradation, some firms have become proactive in their attempts to introduce cleaner production processes and to adopt the principles of a circular economy (CE). The CE is an alternative to the linear model, allowing for the added value of products to be maintained for as long as possible while contributing to waste reduction. The multiple articulations of the CE have made it difficult to converge on a single definition (Masi et al., 2017). Yuan et al. (2006) pointed out that the main objectives of the CE are the reduction of the flow of materials, the achievement of energy efficiency, and the idea that natural and social capital must be constantly renewed through multiple phases. In summary, in a CE, fewer materials are required to produce a constant level of products, either because of a reduction in the amount of resources used or because raw materials are replaced with recycled ones (Figge et al., 2017). The CE, once fully developed, will promote high value material cycles instead of recycling only ∗Corresponding author. Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Zaragoza Socio-economic Research Group, CIRCE Institute. University of Zaragoza (Spain), Faculty of Economics and Business, C/ Gran Vía, 2, 50005, Zaragoza, Spain. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (A. Aranda-Usón); [email protected] (P. Portillo-Tarragona); [email protected] (S. Scarpellini); [email protected] (F. Llena-Macarulla) for low value raw materials as in traditional recycling (Ghisellini et al., 2016). In the literature, the CE is an emerging topic, and research has been gaining ground in academics, particularly at the macro-level (Merli et al., 2018). Scholars have also studied the role of firms in the development of the CE at the micro-level (Lewandowski, 2016). However, only a few authors have investigated how firms might integrate the principles of a CE into their business practices (Katz Gerro and López Sintas, 2019). To date, in studying the CE at the micro level, academics have focused their research on the factors that affect the commitment of private firms to a CE, existing barriers and incentives for its introduction (Garcés-Ayerbe et al., 2019; Govindan and Hasanagic, 2018; Zhu et al., 2014) and the impact of circularity on the business model (Pieroni et al., 2019). Specifically regarding the adoption of the CE in businesses, Mathews and Tan (2011) indicated that the transformation from a traditional linear economy to a circular one requires evolutionary processes in which dynamic linkages are established gradually over time. It could therefore be assumed that a firm's process of adopting the CE will occur gradually to allow for meeting the need for organisational learning (Crossan et al., 1999). This pattern was experienced, for example, in environmental proactivity and in eco-innovation management (Garcés-Ayerbe et al., 2016). Nonetheless, there has been limited research on the components that are crucial to the success of the CE in businesses (Witjes and Lozano, 2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119648 0959-6526/© 2019. 2A. Aranda-Usón et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (xxxx) 119648 Some research on metrics for quantifying circularity of products has been performed (Linder et al., 2017), but it does not incude the development of indicators for measuring the adoption of the CE by a company as a whole. This field of research is not without difficulties since there is still no consensus on how to measure the different CE-related activities implemented by companies. Therefore, an objective of this study is to analyse how companies adopt the CE principles internally to enhance the knowledge about the measurement of the engagement of businesses in the CE. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, only a few empirical studies have measured the introduction of circular activities in different industries within a territory (Aranda-Usón et al., 2018). Thus, another objective of this study is to fill this gap measuring the CE introduction in businesses from a regional perspective, as a subject that has been little explored in the academic literature. Based on the previous arguments, in this study, the adoption of the CE in businesses is analysed in Aragón, a region located in the northeast of Spain, which was selected with the aim of understanding how companies have undertaken actions towards implementing the CE. The remainder of the article is structured as follows. Following a review of the literature summarised in the background section, the methodology of the analysis and the regional study are described. The results are summarised and discussed from a regional perspective to outline the main conclusions and potential avenues for future research. 2. Background The approach used in this study is not specifically theory driven, and the research objective is to generate knowledge about how to measure the introduction of the CE in businesses in a territory. Nevertheless, a summarised theoretical approach is presented in the following paragraphs to outline the general scope of the research. Conceptual discussions of the CE are still in their infancy among scholar, and the literature in the micro field is only emerging. Theory has been mainly approached for discussing the CE concept (Kalmykova et al., 2018) or its taxonomy (Urbinati et al., 2017), and there is a need for deeper study of the concept, its units of analysis, and the theoretical basis of the CE (Korhonen et al., 2018). Some of the most relevant theoretical influences are cradle-to-cradle and industrial ecology (Geissdoerfer et al., 2017). In the CE literature at the micro-level, some studies have been conducted in the framework of stakeholder theory (Walls and Paquin, 2015), institutional theory (Zeng et al., 2017), the resource-based view (Aranda-Usón et al., 2019), the dynamic capabilities theoretical framework (Katz Gerro and López Sintas, 2019) or the business model theory (Pieroni et al., 2019). Walls and Paquin (2015) pointed out that the industrial symbiosis specific literature also remains fragmented theoretically and has developed separately from corporate environmental strategy, in which the focus is mostly on intra-firm, rather than inter-firm, action. Thus, the CE could require significant re-examination of much of current theory and lead to new practice (Murray et al., 2017). From another perspective, based on the theoretical premise that the economic system is an open subsystem of the ecological system of land and limited resources, a certain environmental capacity is related to the CE (Li et al., 2010). At a theoretical level, Geng et al. (2009) stated that the CE model fits closely with ecological modernisation theory. However, the theoretical frameworks that can be applied to the CE principles in a spatial context has not clearly defined, and the measurement methods that have been applied at regional levels have achieved segmented or partial results to date. It has to be taken into account that the environmental behaviour of a company in a CE context is influenced not only by internal factors but also by its external context (Liu and Bai, 2014). Therefore, there is no doubt that stakeholders play important roles in the adoption by companies of the CE principles (Lieder and Rashid, 2016). From a spatial perspective, the theoretical framework of analysis must consider the necessity of engaging with all relevant stakeholders (Pomponi and Moncaster, 2017), the collaborative requirements of the CE (Pieroni et al., 2019), the role of wider systems in business and accounting decisions within environmental management and sustainability reporting (Murray et al., 2017), and the importance of legitimacy among key stakeholders at different positions in the value chain needed for a CE (Linder et al., 2017). It is not our intention to revisit these different bodies of literature; rather, we wished to examine the literature on these fields in a common framework of analysis, exploring the potential for adding something of substance to the debate over the measurement of the CE at the micro-level from a territorial perspective. Nevertheless, in this study, the consideration of multiple stakeholders beyond the firm-centric view (Reike et al., 2018) brings us closer to the stakeholders theory when contemplating research focusing on the adoption of the CE at the micro-level. 2.1. The challenges of adopting the circular economy by firms Academics have mostly addressed the measurement of the CE from the perspectives of resource productivity, critical raw materials scarcity, or the reduction of solid waste, emissions and pollution (Lieder and Rashid, 2016). Although these aspects have been analysed in the CE literature, the development of an integrated indicator to measure the level of adoption of the CE by businesses at the organisation level is still under discussion. In the absence of a recognised method for assessing how effectively a product or a whole company makes the transition from a linear model of operation to a circular model, Smol et al. (2017) recommended indicators based on eco-innovation, but they referred exclusively to technical cycles and materials from non-renewable sources. Elia et al. (2017) contributed to filling the current gap in the environmental evaluation of CE strategies at the micro-level with a taxonomy of index-based methodologies. These authors pointed out the so-called material circularity indicator (Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Granta Design, 2015) that can be adopted both at a product level and at a company level to measure how restorative flows are maximised and linear flows minimised. Di Maio and Rem (2015) introduced the ‘circular economy index’to measure the circularity level of a product as the ratio of the material value produced by the recycler (market value) to the material value entering the recycling facility. Katz-Gerro and López Sintas (2018) provided a picture of EU businesses engaged in CE-related activities and pointed out the heterogeneity in the 28 current EU countries regarding patterns of circular business. Franco (2017) noted the lack of research at the micro-level, especially when considering that essential activities pertinent to firms that can be considered pre-requisites for successful deployment of the CE (Lieder and Rashid, 2016). Urbinati et al. (2017) introduced a promotion dimension of the CE principle, which becomes part of a company's positioning against competitors, and Linder et al. (2017) added to the previous approach with plausible incentives for firms to attempt to present circularity values that are as high as possible. However, these researchers did not study the degree of adoption of the CE in firms located in a given region, and they confirmed the need to develop standardised methods for measuring circularity at the micro-level that include both businesses and products. Some of the studies that partially described the activities that companies perform within the framework of the CE can be found in recent reviews of the literature in this field, summarised in Table 1. In summary, the CE-related activities performed by businesses that have been analysed in the literature can be classified into four groups: I) activities that have been implemented for waste treatment and recycling (Chen et al., 2010); II) activities including dematerialisation and eco-design (Winkler, 2011); III) activities related to secondary raw materials and waste recovery (Kama, 2015); and IV) activities in which industrial ecology and/or symbiosis is considered (Mathews and Tan, 2011; Winkler, 2011). However, there is no consensus regarding the best method of capturing distinct CE-related activities, nor has it dis A. Aranda-Usón et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (xxxx) 119648 3 Table 1 Main CE-related activities classified into four levels, the selected variables to measure the activities and a selection of authors who have studied them within the framework of the CE. CE-related activities Selection of contributions Level REC′01. Reduction of the environmental impact of the company (Dong-her et al., 2018; Elia et al., 2017; Linder et al., 2017; Manninen et al., 2018) 02. Energy efficiency (Kalmykova et al., 2018; Katz Gerro and López Sintas, 2019; Stewart and Niero, 2018) 03a. Waste recycling (Katz Gerro and López Sintas, 2019; Santolaria et al., 2011) Level II ‘DES’04. Renewable energy (Elia et al., 2017; European Commission, 2016; Katz Gerro and López Sintas, 2019; Manninen et al., 2018; Stewart and Niero, 2018) 05. Design for resource efficiency (“dematerialisation”) (Kalmykova et al., 2018; Katz Gerro and López Sintas, 2019; Liu and Bai, 2014; Manninen et al., 2018; Miroshnychenko et al., 2017; Moreno et al., 2016; Ormazabal et al., 2018; Stewart and Niero, 2018) 06. Design for resource recovery (Liu and Bai, 2014; Manninen et al., 2018; Miroshnychenko et al., 2017; Moreno et al., 2016; Stewart and Niero, 2018) 07. “Secondary raw materials”(recycled) (Manninen et al., 2018; Santolaria et al., 2011; Stewart and Niero, 2018) Table 1 (Continued) CE-related activities Selection of contributions Level III ‘VALW’08. Product-life extension (Bakker et al., 2014; Bocken et al., 2016; Elia et al., 2017; Franco, 2017; Linder et al., 2017; Manninen et al., 2018; Moreno et al., 2016; Stewart and Niero, 2018) 09. Design for upgradability and multifunctionality (Bocken et al., 2016; De los Rios and Charnley, 2017; Kalmykova et al., 2018; Moreno et al., 2016; Santolaria et al., 2011) 10. Eco-innovation (de Jesus et al., 2018; Dong-her et al., 2018; Ormazabal et al., 2018; PortilloTarragona et al., 2018; Prieto-Sandoval et al., 2018; Walendowski et al., 2014) Level IV ‘SIM’03b. Internal recycling (Dong-her et al., 2018; Liu and Bai, 2014; Ormazabal et al., 2018; Stewart and Niero, 2018) 11. Energy waste recovery (Bocken et al., 2016; Huysman et al., 2017; Manninen et al., 2018; Ormazabal et al., 2018; Singh and Ordóñez, 2016) 12. Industrial symbiosis and sharing (or similar) (Daddi et al., 2017; Kalmykova et al., 2018; Stewart and Niero, 2018; Yang and Feng, 2008) cussed how firms can in practice adapt their business models to this new paradigm (Urbinati et al., 2017). Furthermore, the descriptions of the activities introduced by businesses do not reveal the process that firms undergo in adopting the CE. The literature does not elucidate whether the adoption of new CE-related activities by businesses is undertaken specifically to increase their level of circularity or to respond to other demands. To investigate the research gap, a first research question was formulated: •RQ1) How do companies in a region adopt activities related to the CE? 4A. Aranda-Usón et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (xxxx) 119648 In this scenario, it must also be considered that the CE is influenced by geographical proximity since the availability of activities at local and regional levels helps to reduce the costs associated with broader circuits involving greater numbers of transactions (Stahel, 2013). Local and regional authorities play important roles in both the launch of and the transition to a CE (Yi and Liu, 2015) since the implementation of a circular business model is so closely tied to the territories within which firms operate. Based on these considerations, a second line of inquiry focusing on the regional level analysis was defined and is developed in the following section. 2.2. The circular economy in businesses at the regional level Although the introduction of the circular principles in organisations is increasing, the engagement of firms with the CE-related practices remains weak (Zamfir et al., 2017). In the micro-field, commitment to sustainable development and the CE has been consolidated with the help of environmental regulations and public incentives (Ghisellini et al., 2018; Hu et al., 2018). Different initiatives to promote the CE at the regional level have been launched in a number of geographical areas, including Europe (European Commision, 2015; Gharfalkar et al., 2015), Japan (Despeisse et al., 2015; Van Berkel et al., 2009), China (Mathews and Tan, 2011) and the United States (Zink and Geyer, 2017). In particular, China promulgated specific laws about the CE that had consequences at technological, economic and social levels (Dajian, 2008). Thus, at regional level, several studies have been focused on the Chinese development of the CE and the metrics than could be applied for its measurement in a territory (Geng et al., 2012, 2009), for waste management (Chen et al., 2010), or for the businesses’activity as agents of CE deployment (Ghisellini et al., 2018; Zhu et al., 2014). In summary, different factors can influence the adoption of CE-related activities by businesses, such as the industrial situation, regional businesses, the innovation level, the legislative profile at the regional or local level and the state of CE development within a given region. In the area of waste management, Fletcher et al. (2018) emphasised the role of policies in the transition to a CE: governments facilitate the introduction of CE principles through incentives to facilitate resource recovery and to guarantee investment. Regulations and public support increase the adoption of sustainable manufacturing practices, such as the CE (Moktadir et al., 2018), and the introduction of broader circular principles related to the exchange of goods and services has been encouraged through policies promoting social responsibility in companies (Liu and Yang, 2018) and supporting CE-oriented strategies (Ormazabal et al., 2018). However, research about the uptake of the CE in businesses at the regional level remains limited. In an attempt to fill this gap in the research, the following research question was formulated: •RQ2) Is the adoption of the CE-related activities by companies influenced by the territories in which they are located? The line of inquiry drawn in this second research question focuses on the analysis of the CE at the micro-level in a specific region. To answer the two research questions and to enhance our knowledge about the measurement of the CE in businesses, a qualitative methodology was designed to be applied to a study described in the following section. 3. Research design and regional study The research method was designed to provide a qualitative analysis of a regional study in Aragón in the northeast of Spain, in response to a commitment of the regional government. Drawing on the available literature and the experience of the researchers, in the initial phase of this study, a selection of CE-related ac tivities that could currently be implemented by companies in the region was made based on the proposal of Aranda-Usón et al. (2019). The variables designed to measure the selected activities and the main literature to justify this selection are summarised in Table 1. In order to enhance the results obtained by Scarpellini et al. (2019) and Aranda-Usón et al. (2018), an innovative contribution of this study is the classification of the diverse CE-related activities that businesses are adopting in the region into four levels considering the material loops closure that could be achieved in terms of the CE. To this end, the activities included in group I, defined as level I ‘REC’, are mostly related to recycling and energy efficiency and are considered as the first stage of CE adoption because they are frequently introduced by industries, while the so-called level IV SIM group of activities includes industrial symbiosis solutions or collaborative circular practices that are not frequently implemented and are the most advanced stages of CE adoption (European Commission, 2018a, 2018b). The third group, defined as level III ‘VALW’, includes activities of dematerialisation, renewables and secondary raw materials. Finally, other eco-innovations and eco-design for circular thinking are classified into level II ‘DES’. This grouping of activities was tested through semi-structured interviews conducted to obtain the opinions of experts about the processes that firms implement when they introduce the CE in the region. In addition, a questionnaire was sent to a sample of firms located in the region as a complementary analysis to collect the opinions of managers about the introduction of CE-related activities. The validity of the integration of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires applied to a qualitative analysis has been demonstrated for regional studies (Marco-Fondevila et al., 2018; Marco et al., 2019). This integrated method responds to the possible limitations of interviews with stakeholders pointed out by Kirchherr et al. (2017). In summary, multiple sources of data were obtained (Table 2). The text of the interviews was based on the existing literature in this field and sent to a group of 21 experts considered key informants because of their knowledge about the CE at the regional level. The final list of interviewees was elaborated according to the guidelines of the regional government and it proportionally represented the main groups of stakeholders, including society (social agents), administration and the business sector, all of which contribute to the responsible behaviour of companies (Camilleri, 2017), in line with the three main stakeholder categories pointed out by Banaitė and Tamošiūnienė (2016) for a CE (Table 9). The interviews, each lasting approximately 30 min, were recorded, transcribed and analysed for trends and patterns of response (Dolowitz and Medearis, 2009). The selection of the sample of businesses was based on firms that operate in sectors with potential for engaging with the CE, such as those related to technologies included in the ‘Best Available Techniques’-- the so-called ‘BREFs’: industrial; transport and logistics; waste; extractive industries; the manufacturing industry; electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply; water supply; sewerage; waste management; transport; and storage. In these sectors, the introduction of the CE is currently considered technologically more feasible, in line with other studies focusing on pro-environmental change (Rivera-Torres et al., 2015) or eco-innovation (Garcés-Ayerbe et al., 2016). In addition, the strategic sectors in the region of environmental services and logistics and transport were also considered according to the RIS3 regional specialisation (Gobierno de Aragón, 2015). This complementary analysis was conducted within the framework of a collaborative R&D project undertaken in the northeast of Spain. The surveys were sent to the managers of companies directly involved in eco-innovation, eco-design and environmental investments related to the CE or to the environmental managers of the companies. In the end, 52 valid observations were obtained from firms located in the region of Aragón, identified by their value added tax (VAT) identification numbers. Table 3 summarises the characteristics of the sample. A. Aranda-Usón et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (xxxx) 119648 5 Table 2 Entries in data display and main variables. Data Source Questions Description Interviewees •Relevance of the CE for businesses in the region •Level of introduction of the CE in regional businesses •Ranking of the 4 levels of CE-related activities •Opinions of experts about the CErelated activities that could be adopted by businesses •Opinions of experts about the evolution of the level of interest in the CE of regional businesses Semi-structured/ open questions Likert scale aranking (4 levels b) Questionnaires •Measurement of the 4 levels of the CE-related activities introduced by businesses via the following variables: 1% of company's total revenues invested in innovative equipment to reduce the company's environmental impact 2% of equipment or facilities replaced and/or improved for energy efficiency 3% of recycling waste (total) 4% of processes/equipment replaced and/or improved to exploit renewables 5% of the products' design or services modified to reduce the resource intensity 6% of the products' design or services modified to increase their recyclability (waste prevention) 7% of resources replaced by other fully recycled materials 8% of the products' design or services modified to extend their durability and reparability 9% of the products' design or services modified to increase their functions and upgradability 10 % of the company's total revenue invested in eco-innovation (other activities) 11 % of recycling waste within the company itself 12 % of total revenue invested in energy valorisation of waste 13 % of recycling waste in shared facilities with other companies and industrial symbiosis. Likert scale and other scales aTo facilitate the analysis of the information using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, the interviewees were asked to classify some of their answers using a Likert scale, ranging from 0 to 10, with 0 expressing total disagreement or a perception of the statement's irrelevance and 10 expressing total agreement or a perception of the statement as highly relevant. bTo rank the CE-related activities, the opinions of the experts were classified into three categories: ‘irrelevant or only slightly relevant’(from 0 to 3 points); ‘moderately relevant’(from 4 to 7 points); and relevant’(8 or more points). Table 9 List of the 21 entities that collaborated through semi-structured interviews, classified into three categories. Interviewees' categories Entities Public Administration Regional Government - DirectorateGeneral for Industry Regional Government - DirectorateGeneral for Structuring and Mgmt. of the Territory Regional Government - DirectorateGeneral for the Economy Regional Government - DirectorateGeneral for Sustainability and Rural Development Regional Technology Institute Public Institute for Electronic Administration Public Institute for Water Management Society Regional Media ONGs Specialising in Environmental Sustainability Consumers' Organisation Sustainable Buildings Expert R&D - University Institute Labour Union Sociology Expert Private Company/Organisation Large Private Industry - Manufacturing Sector Association of Firms in the Building Sector Medium Private Company - Chemical Sector 6A. Aranda-Usón et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (xxxx) 119648 Table 9 (Continued) Interviewees' categories Entities Private company - Electronic Devices Sector Small Private Company - Industrial Sector Private Renewables Company Large Private Organisation - Waste Sector 4. Main findings and discussion 4.1. The circular economy in businesses at the regional level The experts were asked to define the relevance of each group of CE-related activities when regional firms introduce the CE (Table 4). In summary, the activities included in levels II and III were considered the most relevant and interesting for regional businesses by the majority of the respondents. Level I was classified as moderately relevant because the experts considered that the activities included in this group are the ‛first stage of a CE in businesses’. The evaluation offered by the interviewees on this point confirms the predominance of levels II and III but reveals clear differences of opinion by category of interviewee (Table 5). If the four groups of CE-related activities are ranked from those currently considered most relevant (4 points assigned by the respondents) to those considered least relevant (1 point assigned), intermediate levels are classified with 2 or 3 points (Fig. 1). Most of the activities in cluded in the intermediate groups (levels I and II) are considered relevant for the introduction of the CE in regional businesses, with slightly greater relevance for the third group. When the experts proceeded to order the four groups of activities, they confirmed that companies located in the region have not addressed the activities associated with the more advanced levels of circularity included in the last group (level IV ‘SIM’). A representative of public administration answered at this point that ‘the CE is not widely implemented at present in the region and is known only by 15% of private companies’. This opinion is endorsed by some business experts, who declare that ‘the general concept of the CE is known by businesses, but only a few of them are implementing it’and that ‘it is mostly unknown among SMEs’. In addition, some of the experts said that ‘only some large companies are using recycled raw materials and recycling and/or recovering waste within the company itself’. In Table 6, it can be observed that the opinions of the representatives of society differ from the opinions of the representatives of administration and the private sector. In summary, based on the opinion of experts, CE-related activities could be introduced by firms following a partially incremental path because the experts consider that the activities of the second group (level II) are currently the most relevant for the regional businesses, followed closely by those in group III. Based on analysis of the interviews, this result can be explained through the general opinion that the activities related to waste recycling, energy efficiency or similar (level I) had already been implemented by companies and so were not a priority in the region in terms of their relevance to the CE. The lower relevance assigned to the fourth group (level IV) was expected because the activities included in this group are not currently considered feasible in the region. In addition, some experts pointed out that the activities that it contains are expected to be implemented in the medium and long terms. Table 3 Main characteristics of the firms integrated in the sample (number of firms). Sector No. Size No. Age No. Legal form No. Food industry 5 Large 14 <20 years 3 Cooperative society 3 Industry sectors 5 Medium 23 ≥20 and ≤39 years 19 Stock corporation 23 Manufacturing 20 Micro 9 ≥40 and ≤59 years 17 Limited company 26 Waste sector 4 Small 6 >60 years 13 Service sector 15 Transport and logistics 3 Table 4 Opinions about the relevance of the four groups of CE-related activities for the regional businesses provided by the experts (% of respondents). Table 5 Opinions about the relevance of the four groups of CE-related activities for the regional businesses according to the three categories of interviewees. A. Aranda-Usón et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (xxxx) 119648 7 Fig. 1 Ranking of the relevance of the four groups of CE-related activities provided by the experts. Table 6 Ranking of the four CE-related groups of activities according to the three categories of interviewees. 4.2. Measurement of the adoption of the CE by businesses The level of adoption of CE-related activities in the sample of firms is shown in Table 7, indicating that most of the companies perform between three and eight activities simultaneously. Table 7 Number of CE-related activities performed simultaneously by the firms of the sample. No. of CE-related activities No. of Firms % 0 7 13.46% 1 3 5.77% 2 4 7.69% 3 5 9.62% 4 5 9.62% 5 3 5.77% 6 7 13.46% 7 5 9.62% 8 6 11.54% 9 3 5.77% 10 4 7.69% 11 0 0.00% 12 0 0.00% TOTAL 52 100.00% It is observed that none of the companies in the sample performs more than 10 activities simultaneously, and almost 50% of the firms perform half or more of the CE-related activities. It is also interesting to analyse whether common behaviours can be detected among firms when they introduce these activities. To this end, the percentages of the companies that perform each CE-related activity are shown in Fig. 2 (level I: orange; level II: yellow, level III: green; level IV: blue). The most frequently implemented activities are waste recycling and treatment, energy efficiency, reduction of the environmental impact of the company and eco-innovation (55.77%). Although the general activity of waste recycling and treatment is conducted by a large majority of firms, only a very small percentage of them perform this activity internally (which is a more complex activity, assigned to level IV). The results obtained through the interviews regarding the relevance of the different groups of activities at the regional level are confirmed in this stage of the study, since the CE-related activities included in the second and third groups (levels II and III) show intermediate levels of adoption by businesses, being performed by 38% and 48% of the companies, respectively. The activities included in the first group (level I) are performed by 61.5% of the companies in the sample, and only 14.42% of them carry out the activities in the last group (level IV). The particular situation is emphasised of activity number 4 -- which measures the exploitation of renewables by firms, receiving less consideration than other activities of the second group because of a stringent national regulation of self-consumption facilities that limits the net bal  124  Definición y medición de la adopción de la economía circular en empresas sustainability Article Financial Resources for the Circular Economy: A Perspective from Businesses Alfonso Aranda-Usón1, Pilar Portillo-Tarragona 2, Luz María Marín-Vinuesa 3 and Sabina Scarpellini 1,* 1 Department of Accounting and Finance and CIRCE Institute, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza 50005, Spain; [email protected] 2Department of Accounting and Finance University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza 50005, Spain; [email protected] 3Department of Economics and Business, La Rioja University, Logroño 26006, Spain; [email protected] *Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +34-976-762090 Received: 22 November 2018; Accepted: 2 February 2019; Published: 8 February 2019   Abstract: In recent years, a number of case studies of the circular economy in business have been analysed by academics. However, some areas of research are little explored at the micro level, such as the study of the characteristics of the financial resources applied to investments to introduce circular activities in businesses. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to define the resources applied to circular activities by firms. To describe the influence of financial resources on achieving a more advanced circular economy in business is also an objective of this paper. Using a sample of Spanish companies, we applied a partial least square structural equation model (PLS-SEM) to enhance the knowledge about financial resource management in the framework of the resource-based view. We find that availability of funds, quality of the firm’s own financial resources and public subsidies have a positive effect in stimulating the implementation of circular economy initiatives in businesses. Keywords: Financial resources management; circular economy; sustainability; resource-based view; environmental management accounting; corporate finance 1. Introduction In this decade, the circular economy (CE) has been promoted as an approach to sustainable development that does not compromise economic growth [ 1 ]. The number of academic studies on the CE are increasing and different authors have reviewed its different definitions and approaches [ 2 – 7 ]. The introduction of the CE in businesses has also been analysed [ 8 ] due to the increasing interest of companies toward CE [ 9 , 10 ]. However, knowledge about how companies are adopting the principles of CE is still under investigation in the current literature [10]. Although there is a lack of studies specifically addressing matters of the CE at the micro level, scholars have investigated other factors that influence companies’ commitment to the environment. Some examples are eco-innovation processes [ 11 ], eco-design [ 12 , 13 ], compatibility with existing production processes, capital life-cycle or the high initial direct costs of investment, and the exploitation of renewables [ 14 ]. Studies of eco-innovation are related to the CE since the introduction of environmental aspects in the design of products allows sustainability to be integrated in the production of goods [ 15 ]. Eco-design facilitates the CE in businesses since it contributes to closing the production loops by separating components and by preventing their obsolescence. Additionally, eco-design facilitates recycling and the reintegration of products into the economic system. However, the study of specific internal resources and capabilities of companies related to the CE is at an early stage. In fact, to the best of our knowledge, a broad investigation remains open Sustainability 2019,11, 888; doi:10.3390/su11030888 www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability Sustainability 2019,11, 888 2 of 23 regarding the definition and measurement of different characteristics of financial resources for the CE, although financial attractiveness can be considered today as a relevant aspect for the circular business model [16]. A number of the studies conducted within the resource-based view (RBV) framework analyse resources or capabilities related to eco-innovation [ 17 ] without offering total clarity concerning those resources required to finance the introduction of the CE at the micro level. In particular, identifying resources that are specifically applied to CE investments is a new line of enquiry. Financial resources applied to some of the different aspects of the CE, such as renewables, eco-innovation or to more general investments for environmental improvements have been addressed in the literature [ 18 ]; however, the combined effects of the characteristics of financial resources have not been considered with CE investments in the same analytical framework. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to define and measure different characteristics of financial resources applied to the CE by firms. In summary, this study goes beyond previous research approaches related to the CE to extend knowledge by proposing connections with financial resource literature in the framework of the RBV. The analysis builds on and extends the research field on the CE by addressing both theoretical and methodological issues related to the definition and measurement of financial resources applied to CE activities by businesses. To this end, a model of the cause-and-effect relationship between the CE scope achieved by businesses and the level of investment has been designed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The model has been tested in a sample of companies in Spain that demonstrate special interest in eco-innovation, eco-design and some of the circular activities. Data was collected through the active collaboration of private businesses, which is required for analysing the financial resources that are needed to introduce the CE in firms. This paper is organized as follows: a literature review is presented in the next section, before a description of the method and the sample. Following the methodology, the results are summarised and discussed within the RBV framework to outline main conclusions and potential avenues for future research. 2. Background Different studies have been developed relating to the CE due to its relevance to the search for solutions to improve resource efficiency, materials intensity and other sustainability issues throughout the value chain [ 19 ]. To date, the debate about the specificity of resources has focused more on resources and capabilities for environmental proactivity or eco-innovation. Given the high difficulty posed by the CE, few authors have explored this line of research, probably due to the multifaceted aspects involved in the CE. Nevertheless, the measurement of the CE and the theoretical frameworks to define related resources are still under investigation due to the fact that CE implementation in businesses is still at an incipient stage. It is not easy to opt for a theoretical approach when analyzing the environmental performance of companies in terms of the CE, since this model includes actions that affect all the functional areas of the companies. Thus, the close relationship that the CE has with eco-innovation is taken into consideration. At the micro level, proactive environmental strategies to enhance eco-innovative attitudes among companies [ 20 , 21 ] and eco-innovation [ 11 ] have been widely studied. Additionally, internal factors that influence eco-innovation have also been analysed in the literature [ 22 – 25 ]. Resources and capabilities of firms are demonstrated to be relevant for eco-innovative businesses within the theoretical framework of the RBV [ 26 – 28 ] and the natural resource-based view [ 29 ]. When considered in the study of corporate finance, the RBV is applied to define resources that a firm is able to control to eco-innovate [ 17 ]. The RBV theory has also been combined with institutional or contingency perspectives in order to account for external pressures that may affect the environmental strategies adopted by firms and to determine the specific advantages in the execution of these strategies [30]. Sustainability 2019,11, 888 3 of 23 In this study RBV is considered as an adequate theoretical framework to understand whether specific resources applied to the CE by businesses are relevant for closing production loops without affecting the level of competitiveness. In particular, the main goals of this study are to analyse the financial resources applied to the CE activities in the framework of the RBV and to enhance the knowledge about the financial resources that are needed when the CE is adopted by businesses. The level of CE achieved by companies is measured through a wide number of investments and activities carried out by businesses. Furthermore, the characteristics of the applied resources are also explored to help industries to develop specific resources in order to increase their scope in terms of the CE. 2.1. Financial Resources and the Circular Economy While the benefits of the CE are increasingly recognised, there are still many barriers hindering the transition to a circular model in businesses. Some authors indicate that the inadequate financial scheme, the lack of financial resources [ 31 ], and the lack of support from public institutions [ 16 , 32 , 33 ] cause the slower adoption of the CE. Insufficient investment and the risks associated with circular business are considered to be obstacles to achieving the transition towards a CE, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) [34]. The risk for organizations to include the CE in their actual practices [ 10 ] is mainly due to new investments in recycling, recovery infrastructure and eco-technologies for closing the loops. Insufficient investments in these activities and infrastructure, as well as an insufficient level of funds applied to eco-innovation, are considered barriers to the CE. It can be considered as accepted that in order to address the risks associated with circular business, it is necessary to encourage learning and innovation, initiate business strategies and facilitate cross-sector collaborations [35]. A study of barriers to promoting clean technology in Chinese SMEs reveals that the exterior barriers of policy and financing are more relevant than the internal technical and managerial barriers [ 36 ]. Therefore, the availability of funding, especially for investments in technology, is critical for firms to implement CE practices. Shahbazi et al. [ 37 ] affirm that limited financial capability for environmental investments is a primary management issue. Sue et al. [ 36 ] show that large financial resources need to be invested in CE pilot projects. In particular, the new perspective on selling services rather than products implies that businesses will not receive payment at the beginning of the product’s life cycle, such that the timing of cash flow is even more relevant in these investments [ 38 ]. Therefore, there are no doubts that circular business models require adapted financial mechanisms. An example of advanced collaboration within the CE is industrial symbiosis [ 39 , 40 ]. Ghisellini et al. [41] demonstrate that the reasons for companies to be involved in these advanced solutions of the CE are to recover the costs involved with environmental investments. The tax cuts, refund policies on resource use and financial subsidies positively stimulate the development of industrial symbiosis. Aid et al. [ 42 ] point out that problems in financing synergy partnerships are a limitation to the development of eco-industrial parks and they discuss how taxes and government subsidies allow viable economies of scale. On a similar theme, Velenturf [ 43 ] considers that collaborative processes fomented through the CE involve stakeholders for co-producing or co-deciding, and also for financing projects. Masi et al. [ 44 ] highlight the importance of financial support through subsidies and other incentives in the recycling industry, in which the investment supports for technology development are believed to be vital [ 45 ]. Different studies have also emphasised public subsidies as an element that facilitates research, development and innovation activities [ 46 ]. Regarding the environmental sphere, Tirguero et al. [ 47 ] and Ghisetti and Rennings [ 48 ] point out the positive effect of public subsidies for adopting environmental innovation in companies. Moktadir et al. [ 49 ] demonstrate that small companies need more support from government for the adoption of sustainable manufacturing practices because they do not have sufficient capital. Sustainability 2019,11, 888 4 of 23 From the cited authors, economic instruments—including fiscal and financial incentives, direct funding, and public procurement—have to be considered as relevant resources to foment the CE [ 50 ]. However, the incipient stage of adoption of a CE by businesses does not allow an in-depth analysis of literature around specific financial resources applied to the circular processes in the framework of the RBV. It has to be taken into account that the CE is a complex model that includes different environmental issues and concerns different areas of investments, such as those devoted to the environmental improvements of the company, eco-innovation or energy saving, and renewables. From an analysis of the literature regarding the CE, it could be assumed that all these areas represent an adequate endowment of resources and capabilities of the companies to invest in new activities for closing loops, and that a higher level of related activities carried out by businesses would suppose greater environmental performance in terms of the CE. However, it should be noted that most studies available in this area refer to resources and internal capabilities of companies that are not specifically related to the CE [ 17 , 51 – 53 ]. Accordingly, in this study, the financial resources are defined and measured when they are directly related to different activities of the CE: environmental improvements, eco-innovation, eco-design for circularity and resource saving. Therefore, the analysis of the background has been enhanced in our study to also include previous literature about investments to improve the environmental performance of businesses, the financial aspects of investments in energy saving and renewables and the financial resources applied to more general aspects of environmental innovation. The insufficient investments and the risks associated with the improvement of the environmental performance in businesses have been traditionally palliated through direct public funding, such as grants for R&D, piloting activities, research infrastructure, innovation vouchers, supporting innovation incubation, etc. [ 34 ]. Likewise, tax reduction for recycled products has been proposed to increase their consumption and to promote the CE [ 34 ]. Few authors have delved into the analysis of these specific factors [ 54 ] given the great difficulty of differentiating the specific resources and capabilities of companies applied to the environmental investments by firms. Some authors focus their interest specifically on financial resources [ 55 – 57 ], access to capital, either through credit institutions or venture capital, expansion of capital and own funds, or the availability of public funds [58]. In the eco-innovation field, the influence of different parameters inherent to financial resources applied to eco-innovative investments has been considered in more dimensions [ 47 , 59 – 62 ]. Volume, availability, qualitative aspects of financing and the allocation of public subsidies to promote these investments have been analysed [ 18 ]. However, the in-depth study of the resources and capabilities that enable environmental performance continues to be a subject of debate with regard to financial resources and their application to eco-innovation. In previous studies, other aspects related to financing, such as the level and structure of company debt, have been considered as explanatory variables of a company’s eco-innovation behaviour through their relationship with financial performance [ 62 – 66 ]. It has also been demonstrated that the associated uncertainty implies a higher level of collateral for the granting of loans related to high risk investments [ 67 , 68 ] and reduces the flow of funds towards this type of investment [ 69 ]. Thus, the results obtained in the eco-innovation field were taken into account in this study to define how to measure the quantity of funds allocated to CE activities by companies. The availability of financial resources and their potential restrictions are also included into the analysis as they could affect the investments on CE [70,71]. From another perspective, renewables are considered as a pillar of the CE. The aim of increasing the contribution of renewable sources to the total energy supply is of worldwide importance to mitigate the negative energy effects of climate change [ 72 ]. However, a large amount of investment is needed for the energy transition and a significant lack of investment has been pointed out in the renewable energy sector in different geographic areas [ 73 , 74 ]. The financing gap for renewables when businesses are involved in the CE process could be framed within the availability and the cost of capital (and risk) since they influence the attractiveness of projects to investors. In fact, renewable energy projects are typically financed with a mix of equity and debt [73]. Sustainability 2019,11, 888 5 of 23 Financial constraints are a pertinent feature of the energy industry. Ekholm et al. [ 74 ] demonstrate that energy projects are typically capital-intensive, large, lumpy and with long payback periods. If insufficient capital is mobilised towards these projects, under-investment will lead to adverse consequences, including from a CE perspective. Specific funds have been created in various contexts in response to under-investment in climate mitigation [ 75 ]. Additionally, it has to be taken into account that most electricity market investment has traditionally come through a utility model, based on low levels of risk and secure returns [ 76 ]. It is questionable whether this model would work for renewables that have to be implemented in a CE because such investments require more diverse methods of financing. The availability of private resources increases under the established public–private partnership agreements and opens new financing channels that can be available in a high growth of renewable energy sector [77]. Safarzy´nska and Van den Bergh [ 78 ] state that an overly rapid transition to renewable energy can pose a serious burden on the financial system because investments in renewable energy increase the price of electricity. The need for subsidies is also pointed out for renewables by Frisari and Stadelmann [ 79 ], who consider that the high cost and perceived risks represent significant barriers to the deployment of stable and clean energy in developing countries, and that public financing to improve projects’ financial profiles is required. In this context, financial resources are needed to perform a circular business model [ 80 ]; however, the investigation of the different characteristics of financial resources for the CE remains open. Thus, in this study specific variables have been developed and tested in this study to measure and define the characteristics of financial resources applied to the CE by companies. In summary, Table 1shows how financial resources have been analysed in the general framework of environmental performance, business eco-innovation and sustainable energy Table 1. Definition of different characteristics of financial resources applied to the circular economy (CE) and authors that have used similar variables. FINANCIAL RESOURCES Authors “Quality” of financial resources for the Circular Economy (CE) Collateral (guarantees) required for the CE [18,67,69,73,81] Costs of the external funds for the CE [18,65,71,74,76,82–84] “Availability” of financial resources for the CE Capital availability as a restriction [31,37] Uncertainty about the cash flows derived from investments in the CE [42,83] Source of financial resources for the CE Investments financed with the company’s own funds. (“equity funds”) [77,85–90] Incentives and public funds, etc. [17,18,47,48,77,79,91–97] Investments in energy valorisation and renewables Financial aspects of investments in energy valorisation and renewables [35,73,74,76,77] Investments in eco-innovation Investments in innovative solutions to reduce the company’s environmental impact. [17,18,98] Investments in environmental R&D (internal or external) for eco-innovation. [17,47,50,59–62,99,100] Sustainability 2019,11, 888 6 of 23 Studies on barriers and incentives for the CE are also included since they consider financial resources, even in terms other than those covered by our study. 2.2. Circular Economy Measurement In a CE, materials that can be re-circulated are injected back into the economy as new raw materials, increasing the security of supply. These "secondary raw materials" can be traded and shipped just like primary raw materials from traditional extractive resources [ 101 ]. Materials from products at the end of their lifecycle are recovered through dismantling and recycling to reduce environmental impacts and production costs. Recycling is therefore a necessary precondition for a CE that includes eco-design for recyclability, reuse and other environmental management practices, such as resource efficiency [ 13 ]. In order to elaborate on comparative assessments of CE performance across the European Union (EU), data from Eurostat, the Resource Efficiency Scoreboard and the Raw Materials Scoreboard are being used for tracking progress in terms of circularity. However, these metrics are not adequate to measure the CE in firms because they are mainly applied to measure materials and resource flows at the territorial level but not internally in a company. Thus, it is important to have a set of reliable indicators specifically designed to be applied to businesses. To this end, in this study, the main activities carried out within the framework of the CE by businesses are considered. Repairing, reusing, refurbishing, reconditioning and recycling [ 102 ] are also taken into consideration because they are related to the CE. Academics mostly address the measurement of the CE from the perspectives of resource scarcity if the research topic is energy. Criticality of materials or resource productivity is measured from the perspective of the reduction of solid waste, and the environmental impact is taken into account if the goal is to reduce emissions or pollution [ 103 ]. Bio-based and recycled products made from renewable biological resources and/or totally recycled materials are also considered as crucial for a CE. Moreover, it has been stated that eco-innovation plays a relevant role in transforming a linear system into a circular one [34]. In order to measure the CE, the relationship between the CE and indicators applied to eco-innovation measurement has been pointed out by Smol et al. [ 100 ]. From these considerations, waste recovery, actions related to energy efficiency and renewables, and eco-design and eco-innovation have been considered as basic activities when the CE is measured. 2.3. Research Questions To the best of our knowledge, there is a gap in the literature as the relationship between the level of investment and firms’ activities within the circular model has not been studied in detail. Within the framework of the RBV, certain resources and capabilities are particularly relevant for companies to improve their competitive advantage through eco-innovation. In summary, the RBV is applied in this study to expand the knowledge in the corporate finance field to better understand whether the amount of financial resources drives better environmental performance in terms of the CE in businesses. The definition and description of specific financial resources applied to CE is also a goal of this study and the measurement of the level of CE achieved by companies allows us to enhance the knowledge about the measurement of the circular scope at the micro level. On this basis and following the analysis of the literature about financial resources that can be applied to the CE, the research questions proposed in this study are as follows: R1: Does a higher level of investment mean a higher level of CE in businesses? R2: What characteristics of financial resources are related to the level of investment in the CE? R3: Are financing decisions about the nature of resources related to the level of investment in the CE? R4: Which activities for environmental improvement are influencing the circular scope of companies? This study is transversal as it falls between the bodies of the measurement of financial resources for environmental investments and the CE activities carried out at the micro level, excluding analyses at the meso and macro levels [104]. Sustainability 2019,11, 888 7 of 23 3. Method and Sample 3.1. Sample and Data Collection The analysis was performed through surveys that were sent to companies that were collaborating with an R&D project in north-eastern Spain. Companies were selected with more than 50 employees because the size is a factor that facilitates eco-innovative processes [ 105 – 108 ] and it was considered as a relevant characteristic of firms for the transition from a linear model to a circular model. Additionally, companies were selected if they operate in sectors with potential engagement with the CE. For this study, those sectors related to technologies included in the "Best Available Techniques", the so called “BREFs”, were considered: industrial, transport and logistics, waste, extractive industry, manufacturing industry, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply; water supply, sewerage, waste management, transport and storage. In these sectors the introduction of CE principles is both, necessary and technologically feasible [ 109 ]. Finally, 87 valid answers were obtained from a population of approximately 1000 companies that were identified with their corresponding value added tax identification number (VAT number). Table 2summarizes the profile of the sample. Table 2. Profile of sample. Total Assets (thousand euros) Total Turnover (thousand euros) Number of Employees Return on Assets Means Deviation 903,181.3 5,426,286 298,140.3 1,084,284 558.1 1700.53 0.063 0.125 Minimum Maximum 1362.613 48,300,000 3952.4 8,597,300 50 14,106 −0.39 0.56 The sample is integrated by medium businesses (66.67% have less than 250 employees), manufacturing firms (39.08%) and firms that are operating in the energy sector (26.44%). 3.2. Measurement and Variables Specific variables were designed to measure the level of investments and the characteristics of the financial resources applied to CE-related activities. Variables used in other studies were taken as a starting point and specific variables were also developed for this study. Table 3provides the items of the construct elaborated from the surveyed companies for the measurement of investments related to CE activities. Company size was considered as a control variable [110]. Table 3. Constructs, items and selected variables used to measure the financial resources applied by businesses. Construct/Items Description Measurement of Investment in Activities Related to the CE Construct: FR Financial Resources FR-Q Construct “FR-Q”: Financial Resources – Quality FR1 Level of collateral (guarantees) required for the company to finance eco-design/eco-innovation/environmental improvements compared to that required for other investments FR2 Level of costs of external funds for eco-design/eco-innovation/environmental improvements higher than those necessary for the company’s other investments FR-A Construct “FR-A”: Financial Resources – Availability FR3 Level to which the capital availability of the company’s financial resources determines the investments FR4 Level to which uncertainty about the cash flows derived from the investments in eco-design/eco-innovation/environmental improvements hamper the decision-making process Sustainability 2019,11, 888 8 of 23 Table 3. Cont. Construct/Items Description Measurement of Investment in Activities Related to the CE Construct: SF Source of Financing SF1 % of investments in environmental R&D, eco-design or similar that are financed with the company’s own funds (“equity funds”) Construct: FR Financial Resources SF2 % of environmental R&D investments, eco-design or similar that are financed through public funds (“public grants”— subsidies, tax deductions, incentives, bonuses, etc.) SF3 % of environmental R&D investments that are financed through foreign funds (“foreign funds”) Construct: ICA Investment in Activities Related to the CE CER Construct “CER”: Energy Valorisation and Renewables (Circular Investments) ICA1 % of total revenues invested in energy valorisation of waste ICA2 % of total revenues invested in renewables CECOi Construct “CECOi”: Eco-Innovation ICA3 % of the company’s total revenues invested in innovative equipment/machines to reduce the company’s environmental impact ICA4 % of the company’s total revenues invested in environmental R&D (internal or external) for eco-innovating Construct: S Size of Companies S1 Total assets (thousand euros) S2 Total turnover (thousand euros) S3 Total employees (number of employees) Thus, the possibility to extend a system of measuring eco-innovations and combine it with CE principles offered a set of transparent and accessible indicators that have already been tested and represents a simple and quick instrument for assessing the level of CE eco-innovation in a group of industries [ 100 ]. To define the scope of CE thought the activities performed by the firms, the variables described in Table 4were selected. Sustainability 2019,11, 888 9 of 23 Table 4. Constructs, items and selected variables used to measure the scope in terms of CE achieved by businesses. Construct/Items Description Measurement of Circular Scope Construct CS Circular Scope CW Construct “CW”: Waste Recovery CW1 % of recycling waste within the company itself (treatment to be recycled) CW2 % of waste recovery within the company and reuse DR Construct “DR”: Dematerialization and Recycled Materials DR1 % of resource that has been replaced by other fully recycled materials to manufacture products or to provide services DR2 % of the products’ design or services that have been modified to reduce the resource intensity CSE Construct “CSE”: Circular Eco-Design CSE1 % of the products’ design or services that has been modified to increase their functions (multifunction) CSE2 % of the products’ design or services that has been modified to extend their durability CSE3 % of the products’ design or services that has been modified to increase their recyclability (waste prevention) SR Construct “SR”: Resource Saving and Efficiency SR1 % of equipment or facilities that has been replaced and/or improved to reduce energy consumption SR2 % of processes or operating procedures that has been replaced and/or improved to reduce energy consumption or to exploit renewables SR3 % of components of the product or service that has been replaced by innovative components to comply with environmental regulations In summary, variables were designed to measure the savings in emissions and resources, the replacement of raw materials and components and the investments made to decrease the environmental impact of products and companies, eco-design for the CE, waste valorisation and other related variables. 3.3. Statistical Analysis To test the research questions, we used PLS-SEM. Our objectives were to predict the CE level of activity carried out by a company in the framework of the RBV to identify the key drivers that explain the specific characteristics of those funds invested in CE-related activities to make a firm more circular. PLS is recommended when the research objective has predictive purposes [ 111 – 114 ] and explanatory purposes [ 115 ]. Moreover, the use of PLS-SEM is also recommended when the research is trying to identify the key target constructs [ 116 ]. The application of a multiple indicators and multiple causes (MIMIC) approach in CB-SEM could mean constraints on the model that often contradict the theoretical assumptions. This conceptualisation and these conditions have been found in our model. We applied this statistical approach since it enabled us to estimate a complex model with many constructs, indicator variables and structural paths without imposing restrictions on distributional assumptions and size on data [117]. The PLS-SEM method is currently being subjected to debate about its pros and cons. The main criticisms of this methodology have been summarised by Rönkkö and Evermann [ 118 ] and Rönkkö et al. [119] . These authors argue that the use of PLS weights and many rules of thumb that are commonly employed with PLS are unjustifiable. In responses to the criticisms, different improvements and extensions to the method have been introduced by some authors [ 120 , 121 ]. Hair et al. 2018 [ 117 ] and Petter [ 122 ] recently demonstrate the value of PLS as an SEM technique. Currently, this method is widely applied by academics in the environmental innovation field [123–125]. PLS can be used with small sample sizes [ 117 ]; however, the nature of the population also determines the situations in which small sample sizes are acceptable [ 117 , 126 ]. Kock and Hadaya [ 127 ] demonstrate that the power of PLS-SEM is consistent with what one would expect from ordinary least Sustainability 2019,11, 888 16 of 23 From the obtained results, we can affirm that the level of investment is related to the scope of CE achieved by companies (R1). These results allow us to make inferences in a line of inquiry that is, thus far, little explored due to the initial stage of the CE activities implemented by the companies. To the best of our knowledge, similar studies do not currently exist that could be discussed. The availability of funds and, in particular, the quality of financial resources, are also related to the level of investment in the CE. The availability of resources, especially at an adequate cost, are shown as relevant factors in the development of diverse circular activities carried out by companies. In particular, the quality of resources should be noted as the level of collateral (guarantees) required for a company to finance activities in the framework of CE was higher than the level required for other investments. A similar observation was made with respect to the higher level of costs of the external funds required for these activities (R2). Thus, the obtained results endorse and expand the studies that identify the quantity and availability of financial resources as one of the barriers to the CE [31,37,44]. Another line of research concerns the relevance of the financing decisions on the nature of resources (R3). The results obtained in this study bear out the role of public funds and subsidies as drivers to the promotion of the CE [ 44 , 45 ]. The lack of financial resources is also considered as a barrier for eco-innovation [ 68 ]. Likewise, the availability of public funds (subsidies) to finance environmental R&D investments also affects the level of CE activities implemented by firms. These results are in line with the conclusions gathered in studies focused on eco-innovation [ 18 ]. Public incentives and the availability of financial resources and their quality influence a higher level of eco-innovation. In the same line of enquiry, Cecere et al. [ 68 ] identify access to public funds and tax incentives as elements that propel the development of eco-innovation. In the CE, Ormazabal et al. [ 31 ] state that a lack of financial resources is a barrier that limits the implementation of the CE in companies and highlight the need to have public institutional support for Spanish SMEs that require different strategies, namely, financial stimulation and technological modernization, both of which are connected to the lack of financial resources. More specifically, for eco-innovation, Scarpellini at al. [ 18 ] demonstrate with a specific analysis of this sample that the availability and quality of financial resources and public incentives lead to a higher level of eco-innovation in order to define and measure different financial resources within the RBV framework. The results of this study also suggest that access to public funds and fiscal incentives may accelerate the development of eco-innovations, and that their effectiveness interacts, in particular, with firms’ availability of external financing, in line with Cecere et al. [ 68 ]. Empirical results regarding the effectiveness of subsidies (and tax incentives) to promote eco-innovation are not absolutely conclusive [ 135 , 136 ], although some authors show that public subsidies drive the development of eco-innovations [ 92 , 137 – 140 ]. From our analysis, the relationship between the CE and indicators applied for eco-innovation measurement pointed out by Smol et al. [100] is endorsed. 5. Conclusions The different characteristics of financial resources applied to circular activities by firms have been analysed in this study to enhance the knowledge about the influence of businesses’ financial resources to achieve a more advanced level of CE. Public subsidies and the availability and quality of finance applied by firms to circular activities have been measured using a novel approach in the framework of the RBV. These characteristics of financial resources influence the activity’s development and determine the choice of resources to finance the investments. The importance of public financial incentives has also been demonstrated, as it allows a reduction in risk exposure, the financial feasibility and the provision of profitability of the CE investment projects. Although it cannot be conclusively demonstrated that the CE requires exclusive resources, we observed that some resources that are applied by businesses to investments related to the CE, such as the improvement of the environmental performance, eco-innovation, eco-design, resource valorisation, energy efficiency or renewables, can be differentiated from those applied to other processes by companies. Sustainability 2019,11, 888 17 of 23 In summary, this paper represents an expansion of the previous literature by increasing the knowledge about financial resources as one of the barriers to the CE. Additionally, the relevance of the financing decisions to the nature of financial resources has also been analysed, which is a novelty in this field. The results obtained in this study bear out the role of public funds and subsidies as drivers for the promotion of the CE, and can be applied by public administrations to promote circular businesses. The measurement of different activities carried out by firms that are related to the circular model provides a preliminary outlook for progress towards the CE in businesses. Activities that are influencing the circular scope of companies have been defined. These results launch a double line of enquiry about the measurement of the circular scope of businesses, from one side, and the specific investments that must be applied to the CE as unique and inimitable resources of each company in the framework of the RBV, from another side. In the academic field, this study offers innovative results in the corporate finance framework for the management of financial resources. In the environmental management accounting field, this study offers specific knowledge for measuring CE activities and processes. For practitioners, the obtained results provide a set of indicators for CE measurement at the industry level, allowing companies a means of transparency and reporting on their activity, corporate social responsibility related to the CE, and environmental performance in closing the production loops. A limitation of this study is related to the measurement of the degree of circularity, which only accounts for some of the activities carried out by businesses. The use of other indicators that also reflect materials embodied in trade could provide an additional perspective. However, this study does not provide a detailed analysis of the relationship between financial resources and financial performance. The role of venture capital operations or business-angels’ funds and the role they can play in the development of investments in the CE are also not addressed in this paper since this would require more in-depth analysis taking into account a larger set of indicators. Furthermore, it is important to also investigate trends in progress made over a longer period in order to obtain longitudinal data relating to current development trends in the CE. Reliable and relevant data are essential in order to monitor progress towards a circular economy and to analyse the role of eco-innovation in this process. The obtained results are relevant for the internal measurement processes related to the CE. One of the challenges for academics is to bring the discussion around the CE to the firm level. In our case, the contribution to the debate about what resources are being applied by businesses to close the loops to be more competitive in this new business model has been focused on those financial resources that are needed to invest in circular innovative solutions. Author Contributions: All the authors contributed substantially and equally to the work reported in this paper. Funding: This study was made possible owing to funding from the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, project “Conta-Circular” ECO2016-74920-C2-1-R and was partially co-financed by the Regional Government of Aragón in the framework of the Research Group Ref.: S33_17R. Acknowledgments: The authors are particularly grateful for the contribution of the companies that participated in the project ECO2013-45599-R and that provided the necessary data for this research. 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Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).  148  Definición y medición de la adopción de la economía circular en empresas Contribución de los estudios realizados 149  2.5 Dynamic capabilities and the environmental accounting for the circular economy in businesses (Artículo 5) ARTICULO 4: Scarpellini, S. Marín-Vinuesa, L.M., Aranda-Usón, A., Portillo-Tarragona, P. (2019) on-line. Dynamic capabilities and environmental accounting for the circular economy in businesses. Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal. in press doi https://doi.org/10.1108/SAMPJ-04-2019-0150 - IN PRESS EDITORIAL: EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD - ISSN : 2040-8021 Publicación INDEXADA JCR SOCIAL Q2: factor de impacto: 1.745 (2018) Category Name Impact Factor (2018) Quartile Rank Quartile in Category JCR SOCIAL – BUSINESS, FINANCE 1,745 43/103 Q2 JCR SOCIAL – MANAGEMENT 1,745 139/217 Q3 JCR SOCIAL– Environmental Studies 1,745 83/116 Q3 Aportación inherente al área de conocimiento: medición de capacidades dinámicas y de la contabilidad medioambiental: aplicación de nuevos indicadores para modelos de economía circular en empresas para el control de gestión y el reporting. Aportación teórica en el marco de las Dynamic Capabilities: definición inédita de capacidades específicas de contabilidad medioambiental de las empresas.