Traditional economic system has brought important negative implications regarding environmental development, as well as an unequal distribution of wealth, which has led to ecological disasters and population imbalances. Considering the existence of unequal opportunities and access to resources in a global economy, it would be relevant to study the interrelations between the concepts of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Global and multifactorial issues require the review of fieldworks and their connections. From this perspective, the present research aims to analyze the relationships between the concepts of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability in order to understand the advances of current scientific production and future lines of research. In this way, there is a considerable increase of interest in this line of research, highlighting García-Sánchez as the most productive author, Business, Management and Accounting as the most studied topic, and Sustainability Switzerland as the most productive journal. The country with the most publications and citations is the United States, and the most productive institution is Universidad de Salamanca. Future lines of research should focus on the social dimension and its possibilities in the field of Circular Economy. Finally, a line of research is proposed that also includes the proposals from the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

The construction industry is among the sectors that need closer attention due to their environmental impact. The Circular Economy (CE) model promotes the transition to more sustainable production models, which are based on careful management of resources and the reduction of negative externalities generated by such businesses. Its application in this industry can foster significant improvements in sustainability. However, the measurement of the degree of implementation of CE is difficult, owing to an absence of psychometrically sound measures. In this paper, the development of the CE scale for the building industry was described, treated as an instrument that allows for a direct measurement of the importance of CE for companies. The processes used to generate items by applying the e-Delphi research technique were explained in the article, and the developed scale was tested and validated through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The final construction is composed of seven different weighted dimensions: four related to Resource Management: 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle), Efficient Management of Energy, Water, and Materials; two dimensions regarding environmental impact: Emissions and Wastes generated; and, one providing indicators of transition to the CE.

Responsible higher education institutions have an impact on society and economic, environmental, and social development. These effects define the axes of the socially responsible management of the universities. The concept of university social responsibility (USR) manages these relationships to produce a positive impact on society through higher education, research, and the transfer of knowledge and technology, as well as education for sustainability. For this study, worldwide research into this subject was studied for the period 1970–2019. A bibliometric analysis of 870 articles was made, obtaining results for the scientific productivity of the journals, authors, institutions, and countries contributing to this research. The main category is business, management, and accounting. The most productive journal is the Business and Society Review, while the California Management Review is the most cited. The authors with the most articles are Stavnezer, Luo, and Lanero. The most productive institution is Wuhan University. The United States is the country with the most publications and citations, and the same country, together with the United Kingdom, make the most international contributions. Evidence shows growing worldwide interest in the economic and environmental impacts of USR. Future research should focus on analysing the links between the responsible and sustainable consumption of universities and their short-term financial, economic, and sustainable impacts.

The circular economy aims to reduce the volume of waste generated in the world, transforming it into resources. The concept of indicator of circular economy was introduced to evaluate the improvement obtained regarding efficiency in terms of reduction, reuse and recycling of waste generated on the campus of the University of Lome (Togo). These indicators showed that 59.5% of the waste generated on the campus in 2018 could be introduced into the circular economy paradigm through composting, and 27.0% of the energy consumed could be replaced by clean energy obtained from biogas. The entire plastic fraction can be introduced into the circular economy paradigm by reusing plastic bottles and selling the rest in the port of the city. Thus, the income obtained could range from €15.5/day in 2018 to €34.5/day in 2027. Concerning old tires, 1.5% of the rubber needed to pave the entire roadway of the campus could be replaced by the waste generated by the tires currently existing there. Consequently, waste management on the campus could be controlled thanks to these indicators, and this could serve as a model for the rest of the country.

Sustainability addresses environmental and social issues affecting this and future generations. When family businesses perceive that the community is disrupted, recognize an environmental problem and respond by implementing new environmental policies or regulations, the family business’s socio-emotional values press to transition to a more sustainable production system, such as the ‘Circular Economy.’ Drawing on the Dubin (1978) methodology—a paradigm for building models through deduction—we design a sustainable model, which shows family businesses’ responses to changes in the environment. It explains the reasons why family firms transition to the Circular Economy, based on the theory of Socio-Emotional Wealth (SEW). We check the model through the case study of the food retail leader in the Spanish market—Mercadona—which applies policies about energy, resources and waste to become a Circular Economy business model. Because of the strong family character of Mercadona, this case can be useful for the decision-making of other family businesses.

Circular economy intends to turn waste into resources that can be reintroduced into the production process, eliminating the negative externalities from it. The impact of pig manure on the environment is one of the main challenges in agriculture. The high amount of pig manure coming from the pig farming industry complicates the management of this type of effluents, leading to a serious impact on the environment, as it pollutes the soil, the water, and the air. The concept of the indicator of circular economy was introduced to evaluate the degree of approximation of the pig manure treatment process to the circular economy model. In light of this, these indicators showed the possibility of obtaining 0.97 m³ water h⁻¹, 49.40 kg biofertilizer h⁻¹, and 5.33 m³ biogas h⁻¹ per 1 m³ pig manure h⁻¹ treated, allowing us to assess the minimization of waste generation and the efficiency of the use of resources. By applying an anaerobic digestion process to treat pig manure, reductions of water and natural gas consumptions were 47.01% and 5.33%, respectively, which leads to a reduction in emissions of 171.98 kg CO₂ h⁻¹. Consequently, pig manure can be considered as a technological nutrient that is reintroduced into the productive system, enabling the recovery of energy, water, and biofertilizer contained therein.