Chemical Park Reforms: The Key to Transforming China’s Chemical Sector

In order to reduce the negative impact of the chemical sector, strengthen control over hazardous chemical manufacturers, and better protect the environment and the lives and health of the people, China will carry out large-scale rectification of the chemical sector. As part of China’s plans, chemical parks will take on even more importance as manufacturers of hazardous chemicals are forced to relocate to within the confines of these parks. This large-scale relocation will have a profound impact on the supply chain. This article presents the views of government officials, industry leaders, manufacturers and park managers on the ongoing reformation of China’s chemical sector. The article will also offer detail on the progress of current work and insight on future development within the sector.

The chemical sector plays an important role in modern society, and its output value accounts for 7% of the world's total GDP and creates around 1 billion jobs globally, beyond all this the outputs of the chemical sector are ubiquitously found in all aspects of daily life. In China, the output of the chemical sector accounts for 12% of GDP, which implies that its development is of great importance to economic development. However, the pollution problems inherent in chemical enterprise are serious and in recent years, the occurrence of high-profile accidents has underscored the numerous issues facing China’s chemical sector. To mitigate against some of the most deleterious impacts of China’s vast chemical sector the government has come up with a policy of sequestration. To explain further, China has designated large plots of land in areas of low environmental risk and far away from heavily urbanized areas. These plots of land know as chemical parks will be the home for the majority of China’s hazardous chemical enterprise in the future.