Year: 2026 | Month: October | Volume: 13 | Issue: 10 | Pages: 301-321
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20261028
Integrating ESG Reporting and Circular Economy Principles: A Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Transformation in the Indian Automotive Industry
Roland Frank Doelp
GradXs Researcher for PhD from IIC University of Technology (Enrollment No. FNR250201), Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia.
Corresponding Author: Roland Frank Doelp
ABSTRACT
The transition to a Circular Economy (CE) is increasingly important for resource-intensive industries such as the automotive sector, particularly in emerging economies facing rapid industrialisation, resource pressures, and evolving sustainability regulations. This conceptual paper examines how Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting can enable CE implementation in the Indian automotive industry. Although ESG reporting and CE have emerged as prominent sustainability approaches, organisations and research often treat them as separate domains. To address this gap, the study adopts a conceptual research design, supported by an integrative literature review, to develop an ESG–CE Integration Framework (ESG-CEIF). Drawing on Stakeholder Theory (ST), Institutional Theory (IT), and the Natural Resource-Based View (NRBV), the framework explains how external sustainability pressures can be translated, through ESG governance and reporting mechanisms, into organisational capacities and operational circularity. The framework proposes five interconnected dimensions: external sustainability drivers, ESG governance and reporting mechanisms, organisational enabling capacities, CE operational practices, and sustainable performance outcomes. Organisational enabling capacities are positioned as key transmission mechanisms linking reporting and implementation. The framework further incorporates a feedback mechanism through which sustainable performance outcomes inform subsequent ESG measurement, materiality assessment, target setting, and organisational learning. The paper contributes by repositioning ESG reporting from a predominantly disclosure-oriented activity to a potential organisational infrastructure for circular transformation. It provides a theoretically grounded basis for future empirical validation. It offers practical implications for automotive manufacturers, policymakers, regulators, suppliers, investors, and other stakeholders seeking to advance sustainable transformation within the Indian automotive industry.
Keywords: Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Reporting; Circular Economy (CE); Indian Automotive Industry; Integration Framework; Sustainable Transformation
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