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Are Sustainable Development Policies Really Feasible? Focused on the Petrochemical Industry in Korea

Author

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  • Yongrok Choi

    (Department of International Trade, Inha University, Inharo100, Nam-gu, Incheon 402-751, Korea)

  • Hyoung Seok Lee

    (East Asia Environment Research Center, Inha University, Inharo100, Nam-Gu, Incheon 402-751, Korea)

  • Ahmed Mastur

    (Global e-governance Program, Inha University, Inharo 100, Nam-gu, Incheon 402-751, Korea)

Abstract

Korea inaugurated an emission trading scheme (ETS) in 2015 for its ambitious target to reduce 37% greenhouse gas per 2030 business-as-usual level. This study examines the sustainable governance of the Korean petrochemical industry, one of the world’s major emitters of greenhouse gas, with 55 firms participating in ETS. On the basis of the non-radial, non-parametric directional distance function, this study derives three types of efficiencies: greenhouse gas technical efficiency (GTE), pure technical efficiency, and scale efficiency. Using these indices, this study also provides information for benchmarking for the fast followers. The findings of this study reveal the following. First, petrochemical industry exhibits 63.5% ETS performance, on average, showing huge potential improvement. Second, by decomposing GTE value, this study provides information from the perspective of scale to find out the oversupply issues in some petrochemical firms. Lastly, benchmark information for each firm is provided to enhance its efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Yongrok Choi & Hyoung Seok Lee & Ahmed Mastur, 2019. "Are Sustainable Development Policies Really Feasible? Focused on the Petrochemical Industry in Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-17, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:14:p:3980-:d:250726
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    Cited by:

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    2. Yongyou Nie & Jinbu Zhao & Yiyi Zhang & Jizhi Zhou, 2020. "Risk Evaluation of “Not-In-My-Back-Yard” Conflict Potential in Facilities Group: A Case Study of Chemical Park in Xuwei New District, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-18, March.

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