Eco-Industrial Clusters

The green value chains of EICs offer great opportunity for disinvested isolated communities to be connected to more vital national economy.

Eco-industrial clusters are defined as geographic concentrations of interconnected companies in a specialized field that cooperate with each other and with the local community to efficiently share resources. This cooperation leads to improved environmental quality, economic gains, and equitable enhancement of human resources.

The workshop on Eco-industrial Clusters (EIC): Policies and Challenges was held 8–11 December in Tokyo. More than 30 senior officials from 13 regional economies exchanged views and experiences on policy constraints and strategies to transform industrial clusters into eco-friendly economic zones. The workshop concluded that EICs offer significant opportunity for small- and medium-sized enterprises to achieve both environmental and economic competitiveness. EICs are creating greater value for industrial clusters by maximizing the use of resources through eco-efficiency approaches and the 3R policy—reduce, recycle, and reuse. With appropriate social, technological, and financial support, EICs can promote synergies among downstream and upstream businesses and foster sustainable development in the urban fringe areas.

See more details about this workshop.