Circular Economy Business for Climate Change Mitigation: The Role of Digital Technologies

Abstract

This chapter aims to present how circular economy business strategies can help to mitigate climate change with the aid of digital technologies. For that, the concepts of circular economy and digital technologies were explained, and then real cases and applications of Industry 4.0 technologies in supporting the circular economy for climate change mitigation were approached. Technologies of Industry 4.0 provide the basis for driving the transition from a linear economy to a circular economy, enabling the creation of new circular business models and supporting sustainable practices. The examples discussed in this chapter showed that digital technologies such as big data, the Internet of Things, advanced sensors, and blockchain technology have an important role in the fight against climate change issues. The contributions of digital technologies in supporting the circular economy for climate change mitigation are numerous: monitoring gases emissions and air pollutants; providing better decision-making and pollution event predictions for air pollution management; tracking products and their carbon footprint; ensuring the sustainable practices of green products; facilitating the carbon assets trading through green assets blockchain-based platforms; optimization of energy and other resource savings; and avoiding natural resources depletion and reducing air pollution, among others. Nevertheless, further research is still needed because there is little in the literature in a systematic way about the contributions of the entire Industry 4.0 technology collection to climate change–related issues.