Under the green and low-carbon paradigm, how should chemical industrial parks proceed?

In China, the chemical industry has long been the sector with the highest concentration of energy-intensive and high-emission projects, making green and low-carbon development a key component of its pursuit of high-quality growth. As an important platform for the industry’s advancement, chemical parks shoulder the critical responsibility of driving green, high‑quality development. So, where should China’s chemical parks begin their journey toward green development, and what have been the gains and challenges along the way? And how can these parks effectively transition to a green, low‑carbon future?

China’s Chemical Parks on the Path to Green Development

The path toward green development in chemical industrial parks has a long history. As early as 2017, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the “Guiding Opinions on Promoting Green Development in the Petrochemical Industry,” marking the beginning of green development in China’s petrochemical sector. Subsequently, in 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the “Evaluation Guidelines for Green Chemical Industrial Parks,” which assess the level of green development across five dimensions—industrial development, infrastructure, environmental performance, resource utilization, and park management—thereby enhancing the industry-specific, practical, and forward‑looking nature of such assessments.

According to statistics from the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, as of the end of May 2024, a total of 678 chemical parks had been officially recognized across all provinces. Among these, 30 have been included in the Green Chemical Park Registry, and 45 technologies for treating wastewater, exhaust gases, and solid waste have been listed as applicable green technologies for chemical parks. However, this number represents a relatively small share of all officially recognized chemical parks in China, indicating that the path toward green development remains long and challenging.

“Green and low-carbon development in chemical industrial parks is an inevitable requirement of the new stage of development. We must continue to advance demonstration projects that integrate petrochemicals, coal chemicals, and salt chemicals with industries such as ‘green electricity’ and ‘green hydrogen,’ promote cross-sectoral coupling, enhance the efficiency of resource recycling, and achieve green development across the entire value chain—starting with source‑level emission reductions, followed by process control, end-of-pipe treatment, and comprehensive utilization,” said Li Shousheng, President of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation.

The Gains and Losses of the Green Path

Since the launch of the 14th Five-Year Plan, China has steadily advanced the standardized development and upgrading of its chemical industrial parks. Both the infrastructure and management capabilities of these parks have improved significantly, while energy conservation, emissions reduction, and green development have achieved a qualitative leap. Many parks have already embarked on a path of high-quality growth, and the overall capacity for sustainable development across the country’s chemical industrial parks continues to strengthen.

The green and low-carbon development of chemical industrial parks has achieved remarkable results. For example, the Yangkou Chemical Industrial Park in Rudong County, Jiangsu Province, has implemented a range of measures—such as stringent pollutant‑emission caps, reforms to emissions‑rights trading, comprehensive clean production across the park, and the establishment of a three‑tiered prevention and control system—while closely aligning with local conditions. Through holistic assessments and multi‑pronged strategies, the park has focused on solid wastes—including general industrial solid waste, hazardous waste, waste salts, and fly ash—and plans to enhance the comprehensive utilization of solid waste and increase the in‑park treatment and disposal capacity for hazardous waste by undertaking a series of initiatives, such as “clean‑production upgrades,” “industrial‑chain optimization,” and “addressing disposal bottlenecks.” These efforts aim to develop diversified, multidimensional, replicable, and scalable best practices, ultimately establishing a “zero‑waste park” that reflects Rudong’s unique local characteristics.

Although chemical industrial parks have achieved notable progress in green and low‑carbon development over the past two years, numerous challenges remain. The absence of relevant regulations and standards, insufficient reserves of green‑development technologies, and outdated information systems all, to varying degrees, hinder the green transformation of China’s chemical parks, rendering their path toward sustainability fraught with obstacles.

Pathways for the Green Transformation of Chemical Industrial Parks

The path toward green and low‑carbon development in chemical industrial parks is imperative. Along this journey, several domestic chemical parks have taken the lead, enhancing the green competitiveness of their products while embracing the principles of green and low‑carbon development. As a result, they have achieved parallel progress in both environmental sustainability and economic performance, pioneering new models for green and low‑carbon growth in the sector. The Shanghai Chemical Industry Park, located on the northern shore of Hangzhou Bay, is among the first batch of “Green Chemical Industrial Parks” and a National Eco‑Industrial Demonstration Park. Its experience in green transformation holds significant lessons for us. On one hand, during its development and construction, the park has consistently adhered to sustainable principles and embraced the circular economy’s “3R” framework—Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. On the other hand, it has established a circular‑economy‑driven industrial chain that maximizes resource efficiency and reduces carbon emissions. This system fosters mutual supply and sharing of chemical raw materials, intermediates, finished products, and waste among upstream and downstream enterprises, ensuring that the output of one stage serves as the input for the next, with waste from one process becoming a heat source for another, achieving product interconnectivity rates exceeding 80%. Meanwhile, the Daya Bay Petrochemical Zone in the Pearl River Delta has taken the lead nationwide in researching and advancing the development of a multi‑million‑ton‑per‑year offshore CCUS industrial cluster. By signing agreements with international giants such as Shell and ExxonMobil, the zone has brought cutting‑edge foreign expertise and technologies into China, providing an effective pathway toward net‑zero emissions in the petrochemical industry.

How can chemical industrial parks achieve green and low‑carbon development? It requires not only ideological awareness but also a commitment to concrete action. Ideologically, we must deepen our understanding of the importance of green and low‑carbon transformation and upgrading, give high priority to strategic planning in this area, and uphold rigorous standards and stringent requirements. In practice, we need to adopt more pragmatic measures, emphasize the circular utilization of resources and the repeated application of green and low‑carbon technologies, and advance green and low‑carbon transformation in a solid and effective manner. By planning ahead and implementing scientifically sound spatial layouts, leveraging digital technologies to enhance energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, we can chart a tailored roadmap for green and low‑carbon development.

The chemical industry is a major emitter of carbon and also the primary battleground for future decarbonization, making it all the more critical to strike a balance between green development and economic efficiency. Looking ahead, the petroleum and chemical sectors will work to establish and refine a comprehensive industry‑wide green standards framework, covering land use, resource consumption, pollutant emissions, hazardous substances, clean production processes, and smart industrial parks. As several experts noted at this year’s “2024 China Chemical Park Sustainable Development Conference,” green chemical parks will continue to evolve into low‑carbon chemical parks, and the green, low‑carbon development of chemical parks has become an indispensable requirement in the new stage of high‑quality development.

Source: Jiangsu Chemical Network