Stakeholder analysis on policy environmental impact assessment: a case study on the plastic ban policy in Hainan Province

The stakeholders in policy environmental impact assessment were focused on, and the stakeholder theory, the collaborative governance theory and other relevant theories were adopted to establish a stakeholder analysis framework accessible for policy environmental impact assessment, including stakeholder identification, stakeholder participation, stakeholder analysis and stakeholder collaboration. The methodology was applied to the stakeholder analysis on the pilot policy environmental impact assessment, namely the plastic ban policy in Hainan Province. The results showed that the costs and benefits taken by the core stakeholders had been significantly changed because of the enforcement of the plastic ban policy. The government had strong motivation to promote the implementation of the policy, with great increase of the administration cost. Enterprises paid higher costs due to the increasement of the raw materials cost, while small merchants in farmer's markets were those who suffered the greatest loss, which may affect the implementation of the policy. The conflict of interests between the government and enterprises constituted a behavioral game relationship. On the one hand, the higher the punishment of the government for enterprises violations, the higher the probability of the enterprise compliance. On the other hand, the greater the cost of the enterprise compliance, the greater the government's supervision. The public, especially the price sensitive consumers, may adopt the behavior change strategies of changing living consumption, but the effect remained to be seen. Accordingly, countermeasures and suggestions were put forward to promote the coordination of stakeholders, from the perspectives of common interest prosperity, cost sharing, interest constraints and interest compensation. The stakeholder analysis methodology developed was helpful to identify key interest groups, clarify interest demands and policy relevance, and urge all parties to promote the implementation of the policy and maximize the environmental public interest with the acceptable cost.