Stream 2
Circular Economy
Stream leads: Maria Odette Lobato Calleros (Universidad Iberoamericana), Sang-Youn Lee (Sungkonghoe University), Rafael Ziegler (HEC Montréal)
Description:
The promise of the circular economy is an alternative economy based on responsible production and consumption, extended use of products and services, including reuse, recycling and transformation of “waste”. Since current economies are predominantly linear, the circular economy calls for rethinking and even rejection and undoing of ways of doing. The challenge pertains not just to technologies but also to the organizational models, networks and communities that can advance a circular economy that is sustainable and just.
Cooperatives and related collective enterprises have experimented with the sharing of resources long before the concept of a “circular economy” became popular. As member-owned organizations, they are also uniquely positioned to advance values of responsibility, solidarity and sufficiency demanded by citizens, communities and social movements. Yes, they must also establish their place in often competitive environments that favor capital-owned organizations, profit-maximization with policies, norms and practices focused on private enterprises.
For this international UN Year of Cooperatives 2025, this research stream calls on researchers and practioners to advance our understanding of cooperatives, their current role but also their potential for advancing just and sustainable economies. Suggested topics for this research stream are:
What do we know about cooperatives and circularity in the different world regions in which cooperatives are active?
How do cooperatives adopt and integrate circularity strategies into their business models? Do some circularity strategies fit better with some types of cooperatives than others? Are there new circular coop business models? How can established coop models advance circularity?
What is the role of cooperative governance for circular economies? What is and can be the role of sectoral and inter-sectoral coop organizations and federations in supporting members in the transition towards a circular economy? What are new alliances, also involving other actors, along value chains or in regions?
How do cooperatives deploy circular technologies? Do platform cooperatives suggest new ways of leveraging the digital transition in favor of just and sustainable resource use? What is the role of the low-tech movement in advancing circularity?
How does national, regional and municipal policy support or block cooperatives and social enterprises in the adoption and scaling of circular economy? What are the power dynamics?
What can we learn from ways of thinking (such as buen vivir, indigenous philosophies, Western and Eastern philosophies) for integrating circularity in thinking about the cooperative identity?
What is the role of education for accompanying circularity and cooperatives?
References:
Circular economy and coop knowledge base with the literature on the topic on PortailCoop: https://portailcoop.hec.ca/collections/collection-circular-economy