CIRCuS‑IV: a circularity and sustainability assessment tool for companies manufacturing industrial vehicles

Sustainability reports are essential for companies to publicly disclose their efforts towards the achievement of Circular Economy principles and of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This work presents CIRCuS-IV, a circularity and sustainability assessment tool specifically designed to support companies manufacturing industrial vehicles. The tool is fed with publicly available data retrieved from sustainability reports, companies’ websites, technical reports, etc. The assessment is semi-quantitative and includes environmental, economic and social performance indicators. The tool involves 2 levels of evaluation (of current situation of the company and of its transition towards sustainability) defined by 2 macro-areas (actions and strategies) and 11 related aspects, 23 categories and 63 sub-categories. The assessment considered two boundaries: organization and products. The assessment score is delivered through three newly designed performance indicators: T index—evaluating the company’s transparency based on the amount of publicly available data and information; CEPE index, a composite indicator evaluating the circularity and sustainability of the company; and the SDG transition index. CIRCuS-IV tool was calibrated on 3 competing companies, e.g. CNH Industrial, Daimler and Volvo Group. The obtained results showed that CNH Industrial and Daimler are more transparent and proactive towards circular and sustainable business models compared to Volvo Group. CIRCuS-IV supports companies manufacturing industrial vehicles by comparing their circularity and sustainability efforts; however, its reliance on public data limits completeness and standardization. Therefore, enhancing the scoring system with quantitative, company-specific data and third-party validation would improve accuracy. Future research should expand the tool to other industrial sectors for wider applications.