Study of the performance of eco-industrial park development in China

Abstract

The Chinese national demonstration eco-industrial park program has received significant attentions in the field of industrial ecology. The program has just passed its ten-year anniversary. This study aims to assess the economic and environmental performance of the 17 accredited sector-integrated national demonstration eco-industrial parks. A selected group of ten metrics, including resource consumption, economic development, and waste emissions, are applied to assess the performance by comparing the difference of metrics between reference years of eco-industrial park planning and accreditation. The main findings include: (1) industrial added value of the 17 eco-industrial parks as a whole increased by 56%; (2) for comprehensive energy consumption, fresh water consumption, industrial wastewater generation, and solid waste production, the 17 eco-industrial parks had an overall increase of 20%, 18%, 12%, and 6%, respectively. The quantity of energy and fresh water consumption, wastewater and solid waste generation in some eco-industrial parks started to decrease with economic growth. Meanwhile, the average intensity of the four metrics decreased by 22%, 25%, 28%, and 32%, respectively; (3) for chemical oxygen demand and sulfur dioxide, the eco-industrial parks accomplished a two-fold decrease in both total quantity of emissions and intensity. Chemical oxygen demand emissions and its intensity decreased by 25% and 52%, respectively. Sulfur dioxide emissions and its intensity decreased by 51% and 69%m respectively. Measures supporting the performance improvement of Chinese national demonstration eco-industrial parks are also discussed, which mainly include cleaner production and environmental management, infrastructure sharing, energy-saving practices at the firm level, the pillar industries, and industrial symbiosis.