Financing circularity strategies in critical raw materials supply chains: Toward a novel blended framework

The transition to a circular economy (CE) has gained significant attention as a strategy to enhance sustainability across resource-intensive industries. However, its application within critical raw materials (CRMs) supply chains — and its potential to mitigate upstream supply risks — remains insufficiently explored. A key gap concerns how CRMs-dependent businesses can access the financial resources required to implement circularity strategies effectively. This study addresses that gap by synthesizing existing literature and proposing a Novel Blended Framework comprising two complementary components. First, we introduce a Circular Strategy–Risk Diagnostic Cube that enables firms to map specific categories of supply disruption to context-appropriate circularity strategies. Second, we develop an Integrated Financing Architecture that identifies how public, private, and hybrid financing instruments can be combined to support these strategies, given the diverse risk profiles and capital needs of CE initiatives. Drawing on the perspectives of three key stakeholder groups — CRMs-dependent businesses, private financial entities, and the public sector — we identify critical funding challenges, outline actionable pathways to improve access to finance and capital, and formulate a research agenda to strengthen the financial underpinnings of circular transitions. Our findings offer both theoretical advancements and practical recommendations, emphasizing the need for collective action across sectors to achieve sustainable and financially viable CRMs supply chains.