| Title |
Policy Accumulation in China: A Longitudinal Analysis of Circular Economy Initiatives |
| ID_Doc |
2607 |
| Authors |
Ma, WT; Hoppe, T; de Jong, M |
| Title |
Policy Accumulation in China: A Longitudinal Analysis of Circular Economy Initiatives |
| Year |
2022 |
| Published |
|
| DOI |
10.1016/j.spc.2022.10.010 |
| Abstract |
In response to the mounting environmental problems the circular economy (CE) has become a popular policy concept to achieve sustainable production and consumption goals (SDG12). In linewith this China's national government has issued and implemented a series of policies over the last fifteen years, leading to a sudden increase in the volume of CE policies. In the literature this phenomenon is referred to as 'policy accumulation', a concept which occurs when governments adopt increasingly more policy than they terminate. In the case of China, the question can be raised howCE policy accumulation hasmanifested. The present paper analyses policy on national policy spanning 2006-2021 and uses expert interviews to gainmore insights in factors driving policy accumulation. Results show that after a stable period with limited growth (2006-2015) government issued increasing numbers of policy over 2016-2021. CE policy goals experienced a shift in focus from improving production efficiency via lowering of consumption patterns, to embracing whole life cycle thinking. CE policy instruments moved frompredominantly economic instruments (2006-2015) to regulatory instruments alongwith accompanying communicative and network instruments (2016-2021), which indicates a move from a market and innovation policy approach to a more centralized model emphasizing hierarchical instruments. Several factors explain for CE policy accumulation: (i) a response to economic growth and environmental degradation; (ii) national government institutions, their interests and agendas; and (iii) policy learning. Implications pertain to future research critically analyzing CE policy accumulation in other contexts or in sub-domains regarding topics referring to SDG12. (c) 2022 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
| Author Keywords |
Circular economy; Policy accumulation; Policy goals; Policy instruments; China |
| Index Keywords |
Index Keywords |
| Document Type |
Other |
| Open Access |
Open Access |
| Source |
Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED); Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) |
| EID |
WOS:001063459100007 |
| WoS Category |
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology; Environmental Studies |
| Research Area |
Science & Technology - Other Topics; Environmental Sciences & Ecology |
| PDF |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2022.10.010
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