What drives public acceptance of chemical industrial park policy and project in China?

Abstract

Chemical industrial park (CIP) policy is becoming a vital national strategy of circular economy in China and a means to enhance energy and resource efficiency, environmental performance, and economic competitiveness. It also aims to avoid environmental risks of the decentralized chemical plants that have been a subject of public protests as local citizens’ fear for chemical pollution and human’s health. Public acceptance is therefore a major factor determining the success of CIP policy and project. This paper aims to investigate what drives public acceptance and rejection of chemical industrial park policies and projects in China. Our focus is on citizens in three coastal cities located in high environmental and risk sensitive areas: Dalian at Liaoning Province, Maoming at Guangdong Province, and Xiamen at Fujian Province. This is where several chemical industrial parks are (proposed) located. Based on surveys in these three representative cities, we have examined the nature and level of public acceptance towards chemical industrial park policies and projects. Results show that respondents were more positive towards the national policy, but more negative of CIP policy at the city and project level. Public acceptance of CIP policy and project was significantly influenced by factors including income, environmental value, perceived risks, procedural justice, distributive justice, benefits of CIP, and the residential distance to a CIP project. The identified factors provide a basis for anticipating and understanding likely public acceptance and should be considered in decision-making of CIP policy and project.