Quality Infrastructure for the Circular Economy in China

Diplôme Thèse Quality Infrastructure for the Circular Economy in China eng 2025-06-27 2025-07-07 author Weissinger Reinhard 766931 director Bonvin Jean-Michel 28661 Service enseignement, recherche, administratif et technique (SdS) (SCSPS) director de Vries Henk J. 416 10.13097/archive-ouverte/unige:188218 urn:nbn:ch:unige-1882182 Sds 286 This PhD thesis analyzes the evolution of circular economy in China from the end of the 1990s until the 2020s. For the first time, it addresses the functions and contributions of quality infrastructure (QI) in this evolution. QI is a rather new concept referring to a system of knowledge, practices and technologies that form a technical basis of rules that shape the operations of economies and societies to ensure the safety and quality of products and to create trust between market actors. Through disseminating knowledge about circular economy, QI contributes to the green transition. Based on the analysis of a large number of Chinese and Western sources ranging from policy to legal and technical documents, the thesis traces the evolution of circular economy policies in China and its integration with green and low carbon policies. It provides ample evidence for the role of QI and its elements, standardization, conformity assessment (testing, inspection and certification), market surveillance and others, as important components of China’s economic and technological policy towards a green transition. The thesis shows that the evolution of China’s policies has been shaped by aligning two contradictory goals: To reach the level of an advanced industrial country by 2049 and to maintain a livable ecological environment by reducing environmental impacts and handling increasingly severe resource constraints. The thesis demonstrates that rules developed, and instruments disseminated through the QI system are essential to achieving a green transition and increasing the circularity of materials and products. While significant challenges in resource use and pollution in China will remain, without the circular economy measures the negative impacts would have been by far larger. Having already an essential role, the contributions of QI and its instruments can be expected, in line with digitalization, to further increase in importance in the future. Available as an open access commercial edition https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:195418 Quality infrastructure QI Circular Economy CE China Standardization Certification Resource management Green economy Planetary boundaries Dewey 330 Dewey 320 Dewey 300 Dewey 301 Dewey 910 122 Département de sociologie T4 123 Département d'histoire, économie et société T5 198 Institut pour la formation permanente en sciences sociales T8 121 Département de science politique et relations internationales T3 120 Département de géographie et environnement T2 false 0d518bd3-5027-4bc6-ae9b-b11e43666c46 Thesis Private Reinhard_Weissinger_-_PhD_286_QI4CE.pdf 15709217 application/pdf 017eb5e0844fc1189cfb43f42b177e3e41664a490f04067128f5b228906a7c1b d05d4567-3c1f-4f97-82ac-b4790d083b24 Imprimatur Public WEISSINGER_Reinhard_IMPRIMATUR.pdf 57921 application/pdf 994e64e6597f76f79b5f50f4147356d0f146fdadfb7386703a60a2fa3b2e7f53 closedAccess Faculté des sciences de la société / Département de sociologie Faculté des sciences de la société / Département d'histoire, économie et société Faculté des sciences de la société / Institut pour la formation permanente en sciences sociales Faculté des sciences de la société / Département de science politique et relations internationales Faculté des sciences de la société / Département de géographie et environnement

Title	Year	Views	Downloads

Quality Infrastructure for China's Circular Economy. Standards and Knowledge Practices in the Green Transition	2026	7	5
Quality Infrastructure for the Circular Economy in China	2025	158	0

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Weissinger, Reinhard

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