Transitioning to a circular economy (CE) – where materials are reused rather than discarded – is a key sustainability challenge in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Quality infrastructure (QI), encompassing standards, metrology, and certification, is essential to validate circular claims and build market trust. This study shows that when QI organisations actively collaborate across borders, they innovate faster and develop more services for the CE. Regional partnerships and inclusive networks, especially those led by women and bridging organisations, are critical to driving this transition beyond national boundaries.

This paper examines how collaborative networks between QI and CE actors drive innovation in LAC. Drawing on empirical evidence from the regional Quality Infrastructure for the Circular Economy in Latin America and the Caribbean (QI4CE) project (2020–2024), which involved 150 QI organisations and 650 CE stakeholders across three sectors (plastics, agri-food, and construction), the study applies longitudinal social network analysis to test three hypotheses. Results confirm that baseline QI–CE networks were fragmented and nationally siloed (H1). Intensive participation in regional project activities led to fivefold network growth and significantly increased organisational heterogeneity, strongly predicting improvements in metrology, standardisation, and conformity assessment service innovation (H2). Organisations with superior territorial coordination and transnational networking capabilities, particularly regional connector bodies such as the Quality Infrastructure Council of the Americas, demonstrated the highest innovation outcomes (H3). Female leadership emerged as an additional driver of inclusive network development. The findings demonstrate that structured, data-driven investment in regional collaboration mechanisms accelerates CE adoption. Policymakers, international development organisations, and QI bodies should prioritise cross-border partnerships and inclusive governance to realise sustainable circular transitions.

Regional QI networks drive CE innovation in Latin America. Collaboration works – data prove it.

Mining activities have intensive water and energy needs that require reliable infrastructure for ongoing supply. In several jurisdictions, regulations require mining companies to clear all service infrastructure as part of closure planning. This creates significant challenges for remote communities near mine sites that often rely on company-sponsored infrastructure for essential services such as energy and water. Unreliable or unaffordable services not only impact the local quality of life but can also significantly constrain post-closure economic diversification opportunities. This uncertainty in reliable access to critical public services in mining-dependent communities has received little attention in contemporary scholarship on mine closure planning.

Reliable and affordable access to water and energy is critical to supporting remote mining-dependent communities in planning their social and economic transition after mine closure. Traditional cost-efficiency approaches employed by service providers have consistently failed on two accounts. First, they have paid little consideration to community needs in planning supply solutions. Second, typically, a single-minded focus on cost-effectiveness has led to isolated initiatives for energy supply, without considering their interface with sustainable water management. These practices have often led to unreliable and unaffordable services, particularly in remote jurisdictions, where community capacity is low, and over-reliance on company-supported infrastructure is common. This paper proposes a novel conceptual approach to planning integrated water and energy solutions to address these shortcomings. An integrated systems design offers several advantages, including optimal resource use, system and price efficiency, and reduced risk of social and environmental consequences. These advantages, in turn, support socio-economic development needs and may build community confidence in pursuing economic diversification post-mining. The framework, rooted in the principles of stakeholder engagement and intersectoral coordination, offers a critical resource for mine closure planners, regulators, and communities to minimise negative impacts from the closure of long-established mining operations and create new pathways to transition post-mining.

This study explores methods of recovering critical raw materials (CRMs) for recycling in the semiconductor industry. Sustainability reports of global semiconductor manufacturers are reviewed along with the literature regarding methods for recovering CRMs for recycling. Additionally, a case study is conducted to analyse potential impacts of material recovery on the carbon footprint and raw material criticality indicators. The results show that methods of recovering CRMs for recycling are not yet widely implemented in the industry, though they have potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improve resilience in the supply chains of the semiconductor industry.

Climate and environmental crises push the semiconductor industry to reduce its environmental impacts. Simultaneously, the industry aims to mitigate risks related to the supply of CRMs. The circular economy has the potential to address both issues by promoting material efficiency. This study applies a scoping review to assess CRM recovery methods, their industrial implementation, and alignment with the circularity goals of semiconductor manufacturers. The results show that CRM recovery is not yet common in the semiconductor industry, current recovery methods require further development, and explicit recovery targets are largely absent. Complementing the review, a case study evaluates membrane-based recycling of ceria from spent chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) slurry, assessing its carbon footprint and raw material criticality. Ceria recovery indicates a potential reduction in CMP process-related GHG emissions by approximately 27% at 90% recovery efficiency. Moreover, improved recovery and recycling reduce all studied criticality indicators: supply risk, economic importance, and material criticality. To the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to assess CRM recovery in semiconductor manufacturing, combining technological, environmental, and raw material criticality perspectives. Together, the findings highlight CRM recovery as a critical yet underutilized means for advancing circularity and reducing dependence on virgin materials in the semiconductor industry.

Recovery of CRMs in the semiconductor industry and its impacts on carbon footprint and raw material criticality.

EU building policy faces interlinked challenges: issues like the housing crisis and energy poverty persist, while buildings contribute significantly to global resource consumption and related environmental impacts. Resolving these issues may require more than improvements in efficiency and clean technology. Sufficiency offers a complementary strategy – reducing the resource consumption of buildings to what is really needed while ensuring decent living standards for all. Yet, the role of sufficiency in EU building policies remains underexplored. This study assesses how sufficiency is integrated into EU policies, identifying key gaps and opportunities for strengthening it in the building sector.

Buildings are responsible for a large share of the EU’s resource consumption and environmental impacts, while access to living space is highly unequal. Technological innovation alone may not adequately address this social-ecological challenge; however, sufficiency offers a complementary solution. Most research on sufficiency policy for buildings examines national or subnational policies, leaving the EU level underexplored, while studies on policy mixes rarely assess the built environment in an EU context. Our study addresses these gaps by providing, to the best of our knowledge, the first investigation into how sufficiency is integrated into EU policies for the built environment. We use content analysis, applying a conceptual framework for sufficiency with four dimensions: reduced consumption, environmental sustainability, behavioural and lifestyle change, and equitable welfare. The findings indicate that the EU policy mix for buildings incorporates measures in all four sufficiency dimensions, although the social aspects are acknowledged to a lesser extent. Most measures remain technical, but some exceptions align more with existing suggestions for sufficiency policy. Still, we spot significant gaps in the policy mix. This highlights the potential for the EU to adopt sufficiency principles by strengthening existing measures and combining them with more ambitious approaches.

An analysis of EU building policies through the lens of sufficiency: balancing environmental goals and societal needs.

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries have advanced circular economy (CE) policies, but guidelines for companies are lacking. The goal of this research was to develop a model from circular design (CD) to guide companies to implement CE. A circular design model (CDM) was co-created with companies in the oil and gas sector to demonstrate its applicability across sectors. In this case study, we found opportunities related to water, energy, materials, and social aspects and drew strategies to improve management and reuse of equipment and materials. The model contributes to the CE transition of companies in LAC.

The need for circular economy (CE) frameworks applicable outside of high-income regions is imperative for a global-level implementation of circular strategies. These can help fill gaps in practical company-level guidelines for transforming business operations across key economic sectors. This paper presents the development of a circular design model (CDM) tailored to Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The model was tested and refined through a participatory co-creation process with five oil and gas companies in Colombia and Peru. The findings demonstrate the model's effectiveness in analyzing material, water, and energy flows and social aspects, ideating circular initiatives, and fostering collaboration among stakeholders. Results show that in those companies where visual thinking and circular design (CD) tools were applied and embraced, the number of circular initiatives identified and implemented was higher. The CDM provides a practical and transferable framework for companies in any sector across LAC to diagnose their CE performance, identify circular opportunities, and develop actionable strategies.

A co-created circular design model to help Latin American companies diagnose performance and develop circular economy strategies.

Sand is essential for building cities, roads, and homes, yet the small-scale miners who produce it are often overlooked in policy. This study examines how sand mining in Indonesia has been governed over time and why it remains poorly regulated despite its importance. By tracing laws and policies from the colonial period to today, it shows that sand has long been treated as low-value and therefore neglected. This has led to environmental damage and weak support for miners. The study highlights the need for more practical, effective rules for river-based sand mining to support both communities and sustainable development.

This paper examines the historical evolution of environmental governance in artisanal and small-scale sand mining (ASSM) in Indonesia. Using a political ecology approach and narrative policy analysis, it traces regulatory developments from the colonial period to the present through legal documents, archival records, and secondary data. The findings show that sand has consistently been framed as a low-value, abundant resource, leading to its exclusion from strategic mineral classifications and to limited regulatory attention. While artisanal mining has been formally recognised since the 1960s, governance frameworks have largely been adapted from large-scale mining systems and remain poorly suited to river-based extraction. This mismatch has contributed to weak enforcement, limited institutional support, and ongoing environmental degradation. The study further demonstrates that mineral security priorities continue to favour high-value and export-oriented commodities. Recent policies that promote high-quality industrial sand show a growing gap between large industrial operations and small-scale construction sand mining, especially in river systems. The paper argues that improving governance of ASSM requires river-specific regulatory approaches and greater recognition of sand as a development mineral. These findings provide a basis for more inclusive and context-appropriate governance reforms.

Why is sand, the world's second most used resource, still poorly governed? This study traces sand governance in Indonesia.

Digital Product Passports (DPPs) could help make products easier to repair, refurbish, and recycle by improving access to information about their materials and life cycle. This study examines their potential across major European product groups, including heat pumps, solar panels, printers, ICT equipment, and batteries. For the EU27, we estimate that DPP-enabled improvements could raise circularity from 14.8% to 45.0%, with substantial material and economic savings. The results provide a practical baseline for assessing how digital tools may support the European transition towards a more circular economy.

DPPs are expected to support circular economy strategies by improving information availability across product value chains. Building on the CE-RISE project, we assess their potential contribution to recycling- and refurbishment-related circularity for heat pumps, photovoltaic panels, printers, ICT equipment, and batteries. The analysis combines production and trade statistics, a PRISMA 2020-compliant systematic review, and evidence-informed scenario parameterisation. We construct material-flow and circularity indicators for Europe over 2010–2023, distinguish the EU27 from non-EU Europe (Switzerland, Norway, and Türkiye), and quantify a DPP scenario with sensitivity intervals. For the EU27 in 2023, baseline circularity is estimated at 14.8%, compared with 45.0% under the DPP scenario (95% sensitivity interval: 28.6–61.4). This corresponds to potential savings of 2.5 Mt of materials and EUR 27.9 billion (bn), with sensitivity intervals of 1.1–3.8 Mt and EUR 12.7–43.1 bn. We additionally estimate refurbishment-related employment exposure using Eurostat production value per employee in NACE J. The results establish an evidence-informed baseline for evaluating DPP-enabled circularity gains and future policy impacts.

DPPs could raise EU27 circularity from 14.8% to 45.0%, with major material and economic savings.

River sand is essential for construction, but poorly governed mining can damage rivers, reduce water availability, and create conflict within communities. This study explores how Makueni County, Kenya, has responded to these challenges over time. Different actors, including local communities, county governments, and national agencies, have each developed their own approaches to regulating river sand mining, but they have often worked separately rather than together. We show how a more collaborative approach, known as ‘polycentric governance’, can improve coordination, strengthen community participation, and help balance economic development with healthy rivers, reliable water resources, and sustainable livelihoods.

Demand for sand on a global scale has far outpaced governance, particularly in the Global South, where it is essential for infrastructure, urbanization, and livelihoods. In Makueni County, Kenya, for instance, sand governance has evolved from open access to community-driven informal regulation and, more recently, formal county-level control, all evolving against the backdrop of a tapestry of national codes that could provide some control. However, institutional disconnects across the local, county, and national levels continue to undermine sustainable river sand governance. Drawing on a historical-institutional analysis, this paper argues that Makueni's governance system displays signs of latent polycentricity. If properly institutionalized, this could support more resilient and equitable river sand management that reconciles the competing objectives of the economic use of sand and the effective conservation of its ecological functions within these vulnerable river systems. Applying three of Ostrom's principles (Principles 2, 7, and 8), we propose three key interventions:

1. Institutional diagnosis using the established building blocks approach to determine the roles, rules, interests, stakes, and interactions of community, county, and state sand governance actors;

2. Formal recognition of community organization and rules;

3. Strengthening mandates by internal vertical coordination and role clarity across actors.

From fragmented efforts to coordinated action: a polycentric path for Makueni County's river sand governance.

Companies around the world face increasing scrutiny for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) controversies, yet it remains unclear why these incidents occur more frequently in some countries than others. This study analyses more than 300,000 ESG incidents to understand how a country's institutions – such as rule of law, corruption levels, labor protections, and press freedom – shape the likelihood that problems become public. By linking these factors with company characteristics, we show that both national context and firm attributes jointly determine the risk of reported ESG incidents. These insights can improve global sustainability, governance, and risk management.

This study investigates the determinants of ESG incident occurrence by integrating country-level institutional indicators with firm-level attributes in a unified empirical framework. Using a global sample of over 300,000 incidents recorded by RepRisk between 2008 and 2023 – covering more than 10,000 firms across 236 countries – we model the probability of ESG controversies using quasi-Poisson, hierarchical Poisson, and Bayesian negative binomial specifications. The dataset links each incident to firms, incident locations, and relevant ESG categories, enabling us to capture variation arising from both institutional context and company characteristics. Results show that incident counts are strongly associated with country-level factors such as gross domestic product, rule of law, labor rights, and press freedom, alongside firm-level characteristics such as market capitalization and sector. Liberal democracies and countries with higher press freedom systematically report more incidents, highlighting substantial observation bias, whereas stricter rule of law is associated with fewer reported events. The company size, along with country size and wealth, is positively correlated with the number of reported incidents, reflecting heightened scrutiny of larger companies. The findings underscore the importance of integrating institutional conditions into ESG incident prediction and offer new tools for regulators, investors, and sustainability officers seeking to manage global ESG risks.

What drives ESG scandals? Global evidence shows that country institutions and firm size jointly shape the risk of incidents.