A Study on the Dynamic Evolution Paths of Social Risks in PPP Projects of Water Environmental Governance—From the Vulnerability Perspective

Xu Chen, Ying Zhao () and Song Xue
Additional contact information
Xu Chen: Business School, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China
Ying Zhao: Business School, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China
Song Xue: Business School, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 10, 1-22

Abstract: The Chinese economy is transitioning from high-speed development to high-quality development, and water environmental governance is a key factor promoting economic transformation. Due to low returns and high investment in China’s water environmental governance, the PPP (public–private-partnership) model is often adopted. However, the PPP model has historically faced challenges adapting to local conditions in China, leading to social risks in the PPP projects of water environmental governance. To reduce these risks, this paper takes a vulnerability perspective, employing the system dynamics simulation method to explore the dynamic evolution process of social risks in the PPP projects of water environmental governance. The main results show the following: (1) the external manifestations of social risks during the construction and operation periods vary significantly, exhibiting notable fluctuations; (2) during the construction period, there is a surge in social risks followed by a returns to lower than normal levels, then a gradual upward trend; during the operation period, social risks initially decrease to a lower level before gradually increasing; and (3) city class, relevant legal systems, and resource reserves emerge as critical factors influencing vulnerability and social risks. The higher the city class, the lower the project vulnerability; the soundness of the legal system for PPP projects can effectively reduce vulnerability and social risks; sufficient resource reserves can reduce social risks. Based on the above findings, this paper proposes several suggestions aiming to reduce the vulnerability and social risks in PPP projects, optimize the process of water environmental governance, and further promote the sustainable development of water environmental governance and the high-quality economy of China.

Keywords: social risks; vulnerability; PPP projects; water environmental governance; dynamic evolution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/10/3951/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/10/3951/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:10:p:3951-:d:1390880

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().