Circular business models, such as extending product lifespans and recovering resources, are strategic tools for mitigating risks associated with energy security and the supply of critical minerals and metals essential to the development of green technologies. To effectively plan concrete actions, it is crucial to establish metrics that assess the current state of the system and enable rapid monitoring of progress toward a circular economy paradigm. In this context, the research focused on developing a circularity metric for the national electricity generation sector at the macro level.

Considering the pivotal role of the electricity sector in raw material demand and the circular economy’s emphasis on resource optimization, the “Life-cycle Utilization and Circularity of Resources in Energy Systems (LUCRES)” indicator was developed. This metric, focused on resource efficiency, is based on data derived from life cycle inventories obtained through the life cycle assessment methodology, in compliance with ISO 14040 standards. It expresses the ratio between the value added by the electricity sector and the impact on resource consumption, evaluated from a life cycle perspective. This ratio provides a measure of circularity, reflecting the decoupling of economic value generation from resource utilization.

The indicator was applied to evaluate the circularity of the electricity sector for 2021 and 2022, revealing a slight decline in performance, indicative of reduced resource efficiency. Nevertheless, it is important to emphasize that these results represent the first application of the proposed indicator. Long-term monitoring will be necessary to achieve more accurate evaluations and robust insights into evolving trends.

This research offers an innovative contribution to the literature on assessing the circularity of electrical systems at the macro level. The proposed indicator, designed in accordance with international standards and frameworks, can be calculated using annually updated data from official statistical sources and scientific research. These characteristics ensure its applicability over multiple years, making it a potentially valuable tool for planning actions to enhance the circularity of the national electricity system.

The Report is available on the Italian site