Circular ecosystems: A review

The idea of a circular economy has become increasingly popular among scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers. It promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and resource depletion for a more nature-friendly economy. Despite the increasingly widespread use of the term, the implementation of the circular economy is falling behind, as barriers persist. One promising avenue for future research stems from the potential of circular ecosystems and the systematic coordination among stakeholders to implement circularity. This review introduces the circular economy and ecosystems literature, analyzes the literature on the circular ecosystem concept, and contributes by suggesting a classification of circular ecosystems, and synthesizing main success factors in circular ecosystems literature. The classification and success factor analysis thereby decreases the current uncertainty around what a circular ecosystem is and what may make it successful.