Assessing sustainability across circular inter-firm networks: Insights from academia and practice

While academic literature related to sustainability assessment approaches in circular inter-firm networks continues to grow, little is known about the implementation and applicability of these approaches by industry practitioners across their supply chains. This chapter therefore compares the proposed approaches from the literature with those applied in practice according to four criteria: balance of sustainability dimensions; the intergenerational nature of sustainability; stakeholder involvement; and life-cycle thinking. Empirical data was collected through 43 semi-structured interviews with companies engaged in CE practices in Italy and the Netherlands. It was found that CE actors saw sustainable supply chains as a priority, even though about a third of the respondents did not conduct sustainability assessments across supply chains. The main reasons for this were the small size of companies or, for larger companies, the limited importance clients attributed to the sustainability impacts of products. The supply chain assessments conducted were mostly qualitative, in collaboration with firms’ supply chain partners, or a life cycle assessment. It further emerged that, rather than relying on the assessment results, companies ascribed high importance to supply chain management tools and to a relationship based on trust with their supply chain partners.