Relating Industrial Symbiosis and Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

Circular Economy (CE) has grown prominence over the last two decades as a concept that presents solutions to some of the world’s most transversal sustainable development challenges and consequently its various business models such as Industrial Symbiosis (IS) have been identified as important tools for Sustainable Development (SD). Several authors have created a solid base to understand how CE contributes to SDGs achievement, nevertheless, there is a limited number of contributions in understanding how IS will contribute to achieving the SDGs. This paper aims to advance in the understanding of IS implementation within the scope of the achievement of SDGs, with a special focus on identifying which is the relevance of the IS to achieve the SDGs and which are the critical areas of contribution. To accomplish this objective, a research methodology integrated with a literature review and matching exercise was performed. The results of this study suggest that the extended IS implementation might collaborate with the achievement of 8 SDGs and 22 targets.