The Circular Economy (CE) has become an essential management model to address the environmental challenges of the traditional linear model employed by companies, protecting society and ecosystems from resource depletion and intensified ecological emissions. Thus, this study proposes a framework with recommendations for CE implementation, structured around the Triple Helix (TH) model and designed to be government-led in guiding joint actions among government, organizations, and academia. The framework comprises 21 recommendations distributed across six interconnected stages: (1) Policy Generation from Academic Inputs, (2) Development of Pilot Projects with Industry, (3) Analysis and Academic Validation of Results, (4) Policy Improvement and Scaling, (5) Promotion of Innovation and Technology Transfer, and (6) Global Connection and Replicability. These stages collectively enhance policies and practices, accelerating the transition to a CE. This framework underscores the importance of regionally adapted public policies, technological innovations to extend material lifespans, and the promotion of conscious consumption. It also emphasizes the need for intersectoral collaboration to foster sustainability and efficiency in resource management. Methodologically, this study employs an integrative review to map technical and scientific CE practices in the United Kingdom, China, and the United States. The theoretical contribution validates the TH model as a strategic tool for developing the CE. Furthermore, the practical contribution is the structured pathway to implementing the CE, detailing the main phases of collaboration among TH actors to ensure the effective operationalization of circular strategies.

This work examines the relationship between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives and sustainable development (SD), highlighting a scientific gap in their effective connection. It aims to propose a framework with recommendations for promoting SD through ESG, considering the governmental, business, and academic spheres from the triple helix (TH) perspective. This framework provides guidelines for public policies, corporate practices, and scientific research, fostering a sustainable balance between the economy, society, and the environment. Using the scientific methods of content analysis and technical–scientific scenario, various sources were analyzed, including patents, legislation, corporate reports, and scientific articles from leading ESG countries. Its findings indicate that the strategic implementation of ESG enhances public governance, strengthens corporate competitiveness, and drives academic innovation. Theoretically, this work articulates ESG and TH to advance SD theory. Practically, it enables governments, businesses, and academia to promote SD in an integrated manner.

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues have gained increasing prominence in corporate agendas and the academic literature. However, significant hurdles remain regarding its effectiveness, standardization, and authenticity. This work aims to develop a framework containing recommendations to overcome these hurdles and enable more effective ESG practices. To this end, a systematic literature review (SLR) was adopted as the research method to provide an organized and in-depth overview of the current state of the art in the ESG literature and its main gaps. Through the SLR, 35 hurdles were identified, organized into five axes: integration, assessment, stakeholders, territoriality, and sectorization. Building on these hurdles, a framework comprising 39 recommendations was proposed, targeting the ESG key players: companies, rating agencies, guideline developers, academia, and other stakeholders. As a theoretical contribution, this work articulates previously fragmented knowledge on ESG, helping to bridge the identified research gap, outlining pathways for further and deeper reflections, especially in relation to the persistent decoupling between expected and achieved results in sustainability. As practical contributions, it helps avoid negative impacts for ESG key players, leading them to achieve more realistic assessments, adopt better practices, and increase comparability across initiatives, supporting ESG to reach greater effectiveness, enhance assessment metrics, increase the consistency of reporting, broaden stakeholder engagement, and strengthen institutional mechanisms.

The term "Environmental, Social, and Governance" (ESG) has become fundamental for companies seeking to align their operations with a positive and sustainable impact. However, the spread of ESG is not equal worldwide. Therefore, the most advanced countries in ESG can be benchmarked for policies and practices that can accelerate the implementation of sustainable strategies in others. This work aims to identify ESG initiatives in the three countries with the highest h-Index (China, the United States, and Italy) that contribute to Sustainable Development (SD), investigating their articles, authors, and universities. For this purpose, Scopus was used to survey the h-Index and other data, combining a Bibliographic Study of the articles with Secondary Data Analysis of other papers. The progress made by these countries in expanding and strengthening ESG practices is significant and diverse. Together, they are shaping the global ESG landscape, driving more sustainable corporate practices. The results of this work shed light on the studies carried out in these nations, showing the advancement of ESG driven by financial markets, their contributions to SD, and the relevant role of universities in this regard.