THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY VS THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT APPROACH TO PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION: THE CASE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES

Abstract

Production and consumption are both monitored in the context of progress toward a circular economy and sustainable development. In each case, the number and types of the implemented indicators are different. Thus, it is reasonable to ask about the comparability of information produced by two composite measures for equivalent research subjects: production and consumption. This is a thematic area of the EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy, as well as for responsible consumption and production, which is the 12th goal of the UN Agenda 2030. To scrutinize this problem in the European Union, this research aims to test statistically the similarity between the production and consumption composite indicators (based on Circular Economy Action Plan measures), and the responsible consumption and production composite indicators (based on the UN Agenda 2030 measures). The thesis that the application of the composite indicators generates significantly different results is not proved.