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A paradigm shift towards the circular economy (CE) is proposed by academics to foster a sustainable future. However, in the current CE concept, the social dimension of sustainability is marginally considered. Here, circular social enterprises (SEs) can play a role in integrating the social dimension in the CE concept to foster a socially just CE, as they prioritise their social objectives. Therefore, this research examined the strategies through which circular SEs can foster a socially just CE. In particular, this research used an environmental justice perspective (including procedural, recognitional and distributive justice) to identify the social issues and injustices in the CE. Moreover, the research looked into the differences in the employed strategies between three SE types, the entrepreneurial non profit, social cooperative and the social business, as the features that address the social issues manifest differently in these SEs. A comparative case study was therefore employed, analysing twelve SEs based on 24 interviews and 56 archival data sources. The results emphasise that the circular SEs can address all three dimensions of environmental justice holistically through five of their main features. First, the circular SEs utilise their economic surplus for environmental and social impact, reconceptualising surplus (distributive justice). Moreover, the economic surplus can be reinvested by the circular SEs in potential environmental injustices in the CE, fostering a socially just CE. Moreover, the circular SEs embody behavioural, financial, educational and technological accessibility through four different strategies (addressing distributive justice), namely: explicitly integrating accessibility in their social mission, providing (circular) capabilities to socially excluded groups, adopting technological accessibility in their business model and including access to CE information. Especially the entrepreneurial non-profits were found to include access to CE in

The current fashion industry, based on linear business approaches, is known for being broken and causing environmental harm and social scandals, especially in the Global South. The Circular Economy (CE) concept is much-heralded among policy-makers, scholars and industry professionals as a promising pathway towards a more sustainable state in the apparel sector. Nevertheless, until now, research combining CE to social business approaches in the fashion industry is lacking, and thus it remains vague in which way fashion business models could create value for people, planet and profit. This research was based on a deductively and inductively created framework including the typology of three different SE business models by Alter (2007), circular practices in the fashion industry and existing literature on shared value creation including 12 social value type indicators and 7 brand value type indicators. The framework was applied on different circular fashion brands using one of the three SE business models selected for this research: embedded (being a SE in the Global South), integrated (being a brand based in the Global North and producing with a SE in the Global South) and external (being a brand based in the Global North and funding a social initiative in the Global South). The aim was first to assess which circular strategies are adopted by these different SE business models and secondly to analyze what types of value can be created for people in the Global South as well as for the brands themselves by applying these SE business approaches. Considering the circular strategies, the results show that the embedded SE business model uses mostly upcycling, the integrated SE business model recycling and upcycling, and the external SE business model only recycling. Regarding the shared value creation, all three SE Business models create significant value for the people in the Global South. In contrast, for the brand value types, only the embedded and integrated SE business

The current fashion industry, based on linear business approaches, is known for being broken and causing environmental harm and social scandals, especially in the Global South. The Circular Economy (CE) concept is much-heralded among policy-makers, scholars and industry professionals as a promising pathway towards a more sustainable state in the apparel sector. Nevertheless, until now, research combining CE to social business approaches in the fashion industry is lacking, and thus it remains vague in which way fashion business models could create value for people, planet and profit. This research was based on a deductively and inductively created framework including the typology of three different SE business models by Alter (2007), circular practices in the fashion industry and existing literature on shared value creation including 12 social value type indicators and 7 brand value type indicators. The framework was applied on different circular fashion brands using one of the three SE business models selected for this research: embedded (being a SE in the Global South), integrated (being a brand based in the Global North and producing with a SE in the Global South) and external (being a brand based in the Global North and funding a social initiative in the Global South). The aim was first to assess which circular strategies are adopted by these different SE business models and secondly to analyze what types of value can be created for people in the Global South as well as for the brands themselves by applying these SE business approaches. Considering the circular strategies, the results show that the embedded SE business model uses mostly upcycling, the integrated SE business model recycling and upcycling, and the external SE business model only recycling. Regarding the shared value creation, all three SE Business models create significant value for the people in the Global South. In contrast, for the brand value types, only the embedded and integrated SE business

Environment-related risks are often poorly understood, regularly mispriced and can ultimately lead to the stranding of assets. This knowledge gap has already resulted in significant over-exposure to environmentally unsustainable assets throughout economic and financial systems. The emerging risks related to the environment represent a large discontinuity and should be compensated for by altering and reassessing values across a wide range of sectors. There is thus a need for new government regulations to counter them, but these government regulations can also itself be a driver of stranded assets. Therefore, this research conducted a scenario analysis into the implementation of monetarily pricing the respective output of externalities for all economic sectors of the Netherlands, followed by what kind of impact this will have on the profitability of these sectors. Monetarily quantifying the global supply-chain of the Dutch economy lead to the conclusion that this impact would be substantial, with large sectorial deviations. Some sectors will feel limited effects of such a regulation, while other will struggle to survive, possibly generating stranded assets along the way, making the sectors very susceptible to these future regulations. It is found that especially the electricity, gas and steam producing sector and the water supply, sewerage and waste processing sector would become sectors with a high percentage of total losses. It is also found that current economy of the Netherlands is unsustainable, creating physical environmental risks within many economic sectors. The research thus suggests that constructing a political climate that incentivizes companies to change towards more sustainable business practices is needed, and more research should be done into looking how this can be made practice in the future.

Environment-related risks are often poorly understood, regularly mispriced and can ultimately lead to the stranding of assets. This knowledge gap has already resulted in significant over-exposure to environmentally unsustainable assets throughout economic and financial systems. The emerging risks related to the environment represent a large discontinuity and should be compensated for by altering and reassessing values across a wide range of sectors. There is thus a need for new government regulations to counter them, but these government regulations can also itself be a driver of stranded assets. Therefore, this research conducted a scenario analysis into the implementation of monetarily pricing the respective output of externalities for all economic sectors of the Netherlands, followed by what kind of impact this will have on the profitability of these sectors. Monetarily quantifying the global supply-chain of the Dutch economy lead to the conclusion that this impact would be substantial, with large sectorial deviations. Some sectors will feel limited effects of such a regulation, while other will struggle to survive, possibly generating stranded assets along the way, making the sectors very susceptible to these future regulations. It is found that especially the electricity, gas and steam producing sector and the water supply, sewerage and waste processing sector would become sectors with a high percentage of total losses. It is also found that current economy of the Netherlands is unsustainable, creating physical environmental risks within many economic sectors. The research thus suggests that constructing a political climate that incentivizes companies to change towards more sustainable business practices is needed, and more research should be done into looking how this can be made practice in the future.