Analysis of economic and environmental welfare in the context of circular economy

Abstract

The concept of circular economy is alternative to linear economy, which places sustainability in the center of the interest. The circular economy focuses on environmental, resource efficiency, “no waste” approach, social factors and promotes the co-existing of healthy economy together with environmental health. The purpose of the article is to propose a concept of economic and environmental welfare in the context of circular economy, apply and provide empirical evidence based on economic data of Baltic Sea Region countries. The article includes the observation of environmental aspect and resource efficiency in Baltic Sea Region including green energy, renewable resources, waste management, economic indicators, as well as literature analysis and quantitative analysis. A multi-criteria decision analysis method TOPSIS was used to compare the set of indicators by identifying weights for each criterion. TOPSIS is quite useful method to rank and make selection of a number of indicators. By the result, the Baltic Sea Region countries are scored by the economic and environmental welfare in the context of circular economy.