The circular transformation of chemical industrial parks: An integrated evaluation framework and 20 cases in China

Abstract It is a challenging task to evaluate the ecological progress of chemical industrial parks (CIPs) due to their complexity and diversity. By combining qualitative and quantitative evaluations, we have constructed an integrated evaluation framework. The qualitative evaluation was based on observations of the coevolution of the parks' three core elements, which are the industrial chain system, the infrastructure system, and the management system. We identified the development stages of the parks by investigating the degree towards attaining ideal conditions and the correlation of the CIPs' three core elements. We based the quantitative evaluation on the ranking of the ecological performance of the CIPs by considering 15 indicators and using principal component analysis. Combining qualitative and quantitative evaluations, we ranked the ecological progress of China's 20 CIPs. Our work can be used to formulate national evaluation standards of CIPs, promote the scientific evaluation and management of CIPs, and advance the progress of the construction of ecological civilization in China.