As the transition to a circular economy (CE) accelerates, increasing attention is paid not only to technological and institutional solutions but also to the capacity of society to understand and implement circular principles. According to the European Commission, this model is one of the key elements that allow the implementation of sustainable development goals, especially related to transforming consumption and production. Although material flow and economic indicators, such as the circularity index, are widely used to measure circularity, there is still a lack of tools that would allow assessing the readiness of the population to act following the principles of the circular economy.
The study aims to develop and test the Circular Literacy Index (CLI) as a novel indicator that allows assessing the readiness of society to implement the principles of the circular economy. Research objectives include defining the concept of circular literacy based on the recent literature; developing a CLI based on systemic knowledge, goal-oriented knowledge, and transformative knowledge; and piloting the index with a target sample.
The research methods will include literature analysis and synthesis, expert assessment, qualitative interviews, empirical research such as surveys and data analysis, statistical methods, factor analysis, etc. It is planned that the research results will provide the prerequisites for assessing the knowledge and values on which society's readiness for the transition to a circular economy is based and provide recommendations for policymakers.
It is expected that the CLI can be a reliable tool for assessing public engagement when applied in the planning of educational, political, and social initiatives. The dissemination of the research results will include publications in highly ranked scientific journals indexed in the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science or SCOPUS databases, presentations at scientific conferences, and a report in the popular press. The study contributes to the development of novel assessment instruments that complement traditional circularity metrics and support broader societal transformation toward sustainability.
The research is funded by the Research Council of Lithuania (Grant No. P-PD-25-153).