Assessing the performance of carbon dioxide emission reduction of commercialized eco-industrial park projects in South Korea

Abstract

Urbanization and industrialization during the 20th century caused global climate change. South Korean industrial complexes were one of the key sources of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as the most important cause of the climate change. South Korean government launched eco-industrial park projects for cleaner production and environmentally sustainable development in 2005. To assess the performance of the commercialized eco-industrial park projects in the mitigation of climate change, this study analyzed the direct CO2 emission reductions through the 41 eco-industrial park projects conducted from 2005 to 2012 in South Korea. The study classified the eco-industrial park projects according to their primary CO2 reduction function and analyzed the achievement of each type of project in terms of the direct CO2 emission reductions. These findings indicated that the eco-industrial park projects resulted in reduction of 0.48% of CO2 emissions in 2004 from the South Korean industrial sector before the eco-industrial park projects began. Most of the projects were implemented effectively through networks for the sharing and exchanging of energies and resources. Therefore, spatial development planning for the effective relationship building among nodes in the network is required.The study also identified that the performances and limitations of the eco-industrial park projects varied according to the reduced fuels and wastes, the recycled by-products and wastes, and locations of eco-industrial parks. Therefore, eco-industrial park projects should be associated with the other projects for the reduction of the CO2 emissions from other sources that cannot be reduced by eco-industrial park projects alone. Furthermore, to mitigate climate change at the administrative district level, local governments should cooperate with each other to perform the projects in urban and regional planning for environmentally and economically sustainable developments. This study will help develop suitable guidelines, standards, and policies for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to solve environmental and economical problems in the various regions and cities in the South Korea.