The Circular Economy and the 2030 Agenda: progress analysis in Portugal
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Abstract
Society's growing awareness of environmental problems, global warming, massive consumption of resources, and increasing inequalities, has put strong pressure on countries and organizations, underpinning the Global Agenda 2030. In this context, the Circular Economy is increasingly recognized as a fundamental approach to achieve some of these goals.The aim of the paper is to discuss the relationship between Circular Economy and Sustainable Development and to provide a comparative analysis, in the European context, of Portugal's evolution for some of the specific indicators established in the 2030 Agenda. To this end, an exploratory and descriptive research was developed, which included a literature review and the analysis and treatment of secondary data. Despite the positive evolution in several indicators, the descriptive analysis indicates that the Portuguese performance, in overall terms, is below the European average performance. Additionally, for some indicators the evolution has gone in the opposite direction than desirable. Society, and citizens, are increasingly aware and attentive to "sustainable" organizations, products, and processes. Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go to fully recognize and apply the Circular Economy and Sustainable Development principles.
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