A New Global Political Force to Address Environmental Change? The Circular Economy Discourse between the EU and China

Many consider the recent development of a ‘circular economy’ (CE) between the EU and China a milestone towards global efforts to address pressing environmental problems of extraction, resource use and waste management. The implications of EU-China’s efforts to coordinate on CE for the development of international environmental politics, however, has received little attention so far. This article studies the discourse of a ‘circular economy’ between the EU and China based on 72 interviews with key stakeholders, 40 documents related to EU-China CE, and participant observation at key international events. Our results reveal three dominant market optimist narratives of ‘Common CE Market’, ‘CE Technology Exchange’, and ‘Regulatory Harmonization’ in the EU-China CE discourse and three marginal market skeptical narratives of ‘System and Development Disparity’, ‘Competition’, and ‘Distrust’. The dominant narratives 1) align with eco-modernist and global trade discourses, 2) are facilitated by a fragile discourse coalition, and 3) postpone causal conflicts shown by the marginal narratives that threaten EU-China CE cooperation. Our analysis suggests that the dominant politically agnostic CE narratives facilitate short term EU-China political cooperation. They will, however, unlikely lead to a ‘paradigm shift’ some CE advocates envision because they are contingent upon the subordination of environmental to economic priorities in incumbent trade discourses. This study expands scholarship on CE development beyond national and regional comparisons to international relations. More importantly, it evaluates the prospects and possible implications of EU-China CE cooperation for international environmental politics.