Climate change and increasing pressure on natural resources highlight the limitations of the predominantly linear economic model of production and consumption, and the need for more integrated sustainable approaches. Circular economy (CE) strategies offer a potential alternative, contributing to reduction of emissions and resource conservation, while increasing the resilience of systems to climate shocks. This review examines the relationship between CE, emission reduction, resource efficiency, and climate resilience. A bibliometric analysis was first conducted for the initial subset of reviewed articles obtained from the Web of Science (WoS), following particularly predesigned criteria for inclusion and exclusion, to establish the main conceptual and thematic structures in the literature. Across the 72 studies included in the final review, sectors such as construction, energy, and waste management emerged as prominent application fields, with strategies like reuse, recycling, industrial symbiosis, and product as a service among frequently investigated strategies. The contribution of CE to climate resilience in the current review remains limited. Resilience, however, is often harder to measure and less well-documented. To address this gap, an integrated framework is proposed that brings together indicators of emissions reduction, resource saving, and climate resilience, allowing potential synergies and trade-offs among these dimensions. The findings further highlight the need to move from isolated assessment towards a more systematic interconnected assessment.

A successful transition to a circular economy of water requires the integration of infrastructure modernization, wastewater reuse, resource recovery, governance coordination, economic incentives and public acceptance. This review assesses the status of circular economy policies and implementation barriers in Romania’s water sector, with emphasis on wastewater reuse and the transition from linear water management to circular water systems. We apply a structured qualitative policy review and document-analysis approach, complemented by descriptive quantitative indicators, cross-country comparison and illustrative scenario calculations. Literature and statistical datasets were analyzed to identify governance, infrastructure, economic and social barriers to circular economy of water (CEW) implementation. Romania remains vulnerable to water stress due to uneven spatial and seasonal water availability, hydrological droughts, incomplete sanitation infrastructure and limited wastewater reuse. In 2024, 77.6% of the resident population was connected to the public water supply network and 60.7% to sewerage systems, both below the 90% targets set under SDG 6.3 for 2030. Annual water demand is approximately 7 km³, which agriculture sector demand increasing, while the estimated potential volume of reclaimed water available for irrigation is 922 million m³/year. Wastewater discharges decreased from 5.71 km³ in 2008 to 1.57 km³ in 2024. The findings show that Romania has adopted important CE policy foundations, including the National Strategy for the Circular Economy and its Action Plan, and must now align implementation with the recast Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (EU) 2024/3019, Regulation (EU) 2020/741 on water reuse and national SDG commitments. However, CEW remains at an early stage because institutional responsibilities are fragmented, quantitative targets for water circularity are insufficiently operationalized, reuse infrastructure is limited, economic incentives remain weak and public acceptance of reclaimed water is not yet well documented. The paper contributes an integrated governance and implementation framework, a Buzău wastewater-reuse case draw, cross-country lessons and a set of practical actions for developing a functioning reclaimed-water market in Romania.

The urban heat island (UHI) effect has become a persistent climate-related challenge affecting sustainable urban development, with consequences for public health, thermal comfort, energy demand, and climate adaptation. Numerous studies have investigated UHI using diverse observational, modeling, and analytical approaches. However, existing approaches remain fragmented and lack standardized integrated assessment frameworks. This study aims to synthesize the contemporary methodologies in UHI assessment and provide an integrated framework that supports sustainable urban heat mitigation and decision-making. A PRISMA-inspired systematic review was conducted using Web of Science (WoS) and considered peer-reviewed English-language articles published between 2016 and 2026. In line with the predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, studies were screened and classified into several methodological domains: urban characterization, microclimate monitoring, urban environmental indicators, spatial analysis, statistical modeling, cooling interventions, and sustainable assessment. Based on the synthesized evidence, a proposed integrated methodological framework was developed, providing a comprehensive foundation for researchers, urban planners, and decision-makers to design standardized UHI studies and support climate-resilient and sustainable urban development.