Sweden towards a Measurable Circular Economy An Evaluation of Circular Economy Indicators at the National Level

Sammanfattning

Current global development patterns heavily rely on resource extraction, driving environmentalpressures and planetary crises. To decouple resource use and environmental impacts fromsocioeconomic welfare, the transition towards a circular economy (CE) has emerged as a sustainabilitytransition. The International Resource Panel (IRP) emphasises that nations shouldimplement monitoring and follow-up systems to identify transition priorities. The Delegationfor Circular Economy recommends Sweden to develop an updated CE strategy, containing newCE objectives with associated indicators that are followed up regularly. Therefore, this studyexamines international initiatives with the aim to identify, map, and analyse macro-level CEindicators that can contribute to Sweden’s CE monitoring.The methodology combined a literature review with a screening of official national strategies,multilateral guidelines, and monitoring frameworks. To capture practical insights, gaps,and challenges, semi-structured interviews were conducted with international statisticians andpolicymakers. Furthermore, the identified indicators were mapped to assess their distributionacross different CE areas and their data availability in Sweden, while a questionnaire evaluatedSwedish stakeholder priorities.The study mapped 82 CE indicators from 8 monitoring frameworks, including Eurostat, theUNECE/OECD, and 5 EU countries. While Belgium and the Netherlands stand out by incorporatingstrategic, social and environmental indicators, Germany and Austria are activelydeveloping new frameworks. In contrast, Sweden does not have CE indicators connected toits national strategy or continuous financing for CE monitoring. The study finds that indicatorselection is a political and strategic choice, influenced by data availability, policy priorities, anddiffering interpretations of what the CE should encompass.Three potential pathways are presented for Sweden’s future CE monitoring: continuous reportingof existing data to ensure high data availability; expanding the existing data using indicatorsfrom international frameworks to capture strategic, social and environmental dimensions; or developinga new national framework tailored specifically to Sweden’s conditions and priorities.