What is GEIPP

Industrial parks are known by different names and cover industrial areas, industrial zones, industrial investment regions, special economic zones, industrial corridors and so on. They are planned and developed for the purpose of industrial and associated commercial, infrastructure and service activities. Industrial parks have potentially both positive and negative impacts. While they contribute to the economic growth and social development of a country or a region, they also have the potential to cause negative environmental and social impacts including: contribution to climate change, pollution, resource depletion, labor issues and community disruption.

Interest in industrial parks has grown substantially in recent decades. Through the grouping of industrial firms in a defined location, industrial parks offer important potential collaborative and efficiency gains. As developing and emerging economies seek increased industrial output, there is a pressing need to balance economic growth with environmental and social objectives. Strategic planning and effective management of industrial parks will help achieve economic, social and environmental goals.

Industrial parks have played an important role in the economic growth of many developing and advanced-developing nations. They are usually located on the edges of, or outside the main residential areas of a city.

While sustainable business practices were widely ignored by most of the enterprises operating in such zones, governments and the private sector have recently become supportive of a more modern and sustainable investment regime for industrial zones. Therefore, the eco-industrial park (EIP) concept has increasingly been recognized as an effective tool to overcome challenges related to inclusive and
sustainable industrial development in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

An eco-industrial park (EIP) is an industrial park in which businesses cooperate with each other and with the local community in an attempt to reduce waste and pollution, efficiently share resources (such as information, materials, water, energy, infrastructure, and natural resources), and help achieve sustainable development, with the intention of increasing economic gains and improving environmental quality.[1] An EIP may also be planned, designed, and built in such a way that it makes it easier for businesses to co-operate, and that results in a more financially sound, environmentally friendly project for the developer.

The Eco-industrial Park Handbook states that “An Eco-Industrial Park is a community of manufacturing and service businesses located together on a common property. Members seek enhanced environmental, economic, and social performance through collaboration in managing environmental and resource issues.”

Based on the concepts of industrial ecology, collaborative strategies not only include by-product synergy (“waste-to-feed” exchanges), but can also take the form of wastewater cascading, shared logistics and shipping & receiving facilities, shared parking, green technology purchasing blocks, multipartner green building retrofit, district energy systems, and local education and resource centres. This is an application of a systems approach, in which designs and processes/activities are integrated to address multiple objectives.

Broadly, EIPs can be defined as a dedicated area for industrial use at a suitable site that ensures sustainability through the integration of social, economic and environmental quality aspects into its siting, planning, management and operations. Definitions have evolved to reflect the importance given to the three pillars of sustainable development, namely economic, environmental and social.