Research Trends on Climate Change and Circular Economy from a Knowledge Mapping Perspective

Plant responses to climate change, how global warming may impact on food security: a critical review

Global agricultural production must double by 2050 to meet the demands of an increasing world human population but this challenge is further exacerbated by climate change. Environmental stress, heat, and drought are key drivers in food security and strongly impacts on crop productivity. Moreover, global warming is threatening the survival of many species including those which we rely on for food production, forcing migration of cultivation areas with further impoverishing of the environment and of the genetic variability of crop species with fall out effects on food security. This review considers the relationship of climatic changes and their bearing on sustainability of natural and agricultural ecosystems, as well as the role of omics-technologies, genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, phenomics and ionomics. The use of resource saving technologies such as precision agriculture and new fertilization technologies are discussed with a focus on their use in breeding plants with higher tolerance and adaptability and as mitigation tools for global warming and climate changes. Nevertheless, plants are exposed to multiple stresses. This study lays the basis for the proposition of a novel research paradigm which is referred to a holistic approach and that went beyond the exclusive concept of crop yield, but that included sustainability, socio-economic impacts of production, commercialization, and agroecosystem management.

Insights into Circular Horticulture: Knowledge Diffusion, Resource Circulation, One Health Approach, and Greenhouse Technologies

The integration of the circular economy in agriculture has promoted sustainable innovation in food production systems such as horticulture. The present paper illustrates how horticulture is transitioning to the circular economy. This research field's performance approaches and trends were assessed through a bibliometric and text-mining analysis of the literature. Our findings revealed that circular horticulture is a recent research field that is constantly growing. Its approach has been neither systemic nor integrative but fragmented. Bioeconomy, urban agriculture, recycled nutrients, biochar, fertigation, and desalination have been positioned as research hotspots. Vegetables and fruits are the most studied crops. Resource circulation has focused primarily on biowaste recovery to provide benefits such as biofertilizers and linear-substrate substitutes, and on water reuse for the establishment of hydroponic systems. The One Health approach is scarcely explored and, therefore, weakly articulated, wherein the absence of assessment methodologies encompassing the health of ecosystems, animals, and people is a notable limitation. Science-policy interfaces between One Health and food systems need to be improved. Lastly, greenhouse technologies are aligned with bioenergy, sustainable materials, and sensing technologies. Challenges and directions for future research have been raised to promote the redesign of horticultural production systems, integrating long-term circularity.

Critical Success Factors for Circular Business Model Innovation from the Perspective of the Sustainable Development Goals

Circular business model innovation offers a path for the transformation of companies, enhancing resource productivity and efficiency, while also contributing to sustainable development. These fundamental changes in business are accompanied by a variety of challenges and barriers. To support companies on their journey, only a few studies have investigated the critical success factors for circular business model innovation through literature analysis. To contribute to this research, in this study, a methodological approach, mainly based on expert interviews, is proposed to gain in-depth insight into critical success factors for circular business model innovation. As a result, a framework covering critical success factors for circular business model innovation is developed, comprising nine top-codes and 37 sub-codes, and an analysis of each factor’s contribution to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals is performed. The study thereby extends the theoretical basis for further research on circular business model innovation, as well as identifies their practical implications.