Topic: Advancing Net-Zero Industrial Park Development: From the Globe to the Asia-Pacific

Climate change, manifested as global warming, prolonged droughts and frequent extreme weather events, has emerged as a defining threat to sustainable development across the Asia-Pacific region. Reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicate that the Asia-Pacific contributes over half of global greenhouse gas emissions, with industrial and manufacturing sectors accounting for nearly three-quarters of the world’s total. While serving as the backbone of global value chains, the region is confronted with the most urgent decarbonization pressure.

Meanwhile, against the backdrop of emerging international green trade initiatives and regulatory frameworks—including the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and Digital Product Passport (DPP)—as well as the rollout of national carbon neutrality targets across regional economies, low-carbon industrial transformation has evolved from a voluntary practice into a mandatory imperative. In parallel, the Asia-Pacific remains the world’s most vibrant economic engine, with ongoing industrialization and urbanization driving sustained growth in industrial output and energy demand. As core spatial carriers of industrial agglomeration and economic growth, industrial parks are associated with high total carbon emissions and considerable carbon intensity. Leading regional financial hubs and benchmark cities in Asia, such as Hong Kong and Singapore, also aim to play a pivotal role in aligning international standards and provide professional service on sustainable certification, to advance green trade development. These interconnected realities have spurred extensive discussions on how to advance deep, systemic decarbonization while preserving industrial competitiveness and sustaining long-term economic momentum.

Since the signing of the Paris Agreement at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21), building net-zero carbon industrial parks has been widely recognized as a pivotal solution to these intertwined challenges. From China’s national initiative for zero-carbon park development to ASEAN’s push for green park transformation under the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation 2026–2030, Asia-Pacific economies are exploring park-based pathways to scaled decarbonization. In principle, net-zero carbon parks can systematically reduce overall emissions and progressively achieve net zero through energy system restructuring, industrial process optimization, circular resource utilization and smart governance upgrades, delivering replicable, scalable on-the-ground models for regional carbon peaking and neutrality goals. Furthermore, park-level net-zero transition not only directly curbs industrial emissions, but also strengthens the climate resilience and global competitiveness of industrial systems via improved energy efficiency, large-scale renewable energy deployment and green supply chain development, thereby supporting high-quality economic growth alongside climate action. Nonetheless, net-zero carbon park development in the Asia-Pacific still faces practical barriers including uneven regional progress, fragmented standard frameworks, insufficient technological coordination and long payback periods for investments, which call for multi-dimensional research and practical exploration.

Accordingly, this special issue aims to collect and publish original research studies, technological innovations, practical case analyses, policy discussions and business model explorations focused on net-zero carbon park construction, from global lessons to the initiatives and practices in Asia-Pacific context, to provide academic insights and practical references for advancing regional industrial green and low-carbon transition and synergistically delivering climate targets and sustainable development.

Proposed topics include, but are not limited to:

1. Comparative Study on Global Evaluation Criteria for Net-Zero Industrial Parks and Their Localization Adaptation in the Asia-Pacific Region;

2. Decarbonization Pathways for Energy Systems in Asia-Pacific Industrial Parks: Synergistic Mechanism of Renewable Energy Integration and Energy Efficiency Improvement;

3. Construction of Park-Level Circular Economy Systems and Quantitative Assessment of Carbon Emission Reduction Effects from the Perspective of Industrial Symbiosis;

4. Green Trade Compliance Transition Strategies for Manufacturing-Oriented Industrial Parks in the Asia-Pacific Against the Backdrop of CBAM and Digital Product Passport;

5. Policy Instrument Design and Implementation Effects of Net-Zero Carbon Parks in Asia-Pacific Economies Under Diversified Development Contexts;

6. Digital Technology-Enabled Net-Zero Parks: Life-Cycle Carbon Management and Smart Governance System Construction;

7. Functional Mechanisms of Regional Financial Hubs in Park-Level Sustainable Certification and Green Supply Chain Services: A Case Study of Hong Kong and Singapore;

8. Research on Business Model Innovation and Social Capital Participation Pathways for Net-Zero Industrial Parks in the Asia-Pacific;

9. Synergistic Development Strategies and Risk Assessment of Climate Resilience Enhancement and Deep Decarbonization in Industrial Parks;

10. Mutual Standard Recognition and Collaborative Governance Mechanisms for Asia-Pacific Net-Zero Parks Under Cross-Border Industrial Cooperation.