Exploring the green and low-carbon development pathway for an energy-intensive industrial park in China

Abstract

Energy-intensive industrial parks (IPs) with the distinct characteristics of high energy consumption, substantial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and huge pollution, are facing enormous pressure to realize the synergistic mitigation of GHG and air pollutants. Exploring the green and low-carbon transformation of energy-intensive IPs is urgently required to achieve the dual strategies of “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality” and “Beautiful China”. Taking a typical energy-intensive industrial park (IP) in Henan Province—the Red Flag Cannel Industrial Park (RFCP) as the research object, an integrated evaluation framework including multi-objective optimization model alongside the synergistic mitigation potential of carbon and air pollutant emissions, was established in the energy-intensive IPs. Five scenarios were designed to quantify the GHG and air pollutant mitigation potential, while synergistic emission reduction control effects were evaluated under four measures of industrial structure adjustment, energy structure adjustment, energy efficiency improvement, and industrial symbiosis. The scenario analysis indicates that the integrated scenario (S4) shows the most significant emission reduction potential by 2030. Compared to the baseline scenario (S0), the GHG emission reduction is 11.66 Mt CO2eq (53% reduction rate), and the emission reduction rate of air pollutants ranges from 38% to 69% in S4. The findings indicate that industrial structure adjustment and energy structure adjustment are the primary measures for reducing GHG and air pollutants of IPs. Additionally, the evaluation of synergistic effect demonstrates that industrial structure adjustment shows the most significant synergistic effect on GHG and air pollutant by 2030. Finally, some policy recommendations regarding the transformation direction of energy-intensive IPs were proposed. This study will provide valuable references for the green and low-carbon development of energy-intensive IPs.