Environmental practice and its effect on the sustainable development of eco-industrial parks in China

Abstract

After more than a decade of development, eco-industrial parks (EIPs) have made significant progress in saving resources and protecting the environment in China. Meanwhile, many problems have emerged, such as poor stability, poor profitability and weak eco-industrial chains, which have impeded the EIP's sustainable development. Faced with variable environmental practices and limited resources and capital, EIPs need to address suitable environmental practices seriously to configure resources reasonably and ultimately realize sustainable development. Therefore, based on an analysis of the elements of environmental practice and sustainable development level, this article aims at identifying those environmental practices that can improve the sustainable development level of EIPs and to analyze the impact of those different environmental practices on the sustainable development level of EIPs using factor analysis and analytic hierarchy process. The results could provide theoretical guidance and reference for decision-making to Chinese government and administration committees of EIPs for choosing and implementing environmental practices.