Thermal insulation, renewable energies or reducing wastewater – these areas of environmental protection are also becoming increasingly important as an economic factor. Sales and the number of employees are increasing.
Environmental protection is an increasingly lucrative economic sector for Germany. Companies in the manufacturing and service sectors generated around 107.5 billion euros in sales with goods and services for environmental protection in 2022, the Federal Statistical Office announced. This refers to areas such as thermal insulation, wind power and wastewater management.
Compared to the previous year, this is an increase of 16.9 percent – a growth trend that has already been observed in recent years. The data for 2022 is the most recent available.
The number of employees in so-called green jobs – that is, the employees who produced and provided the goods and services for this sector – has also increased. In 2022, the number grew by 35,000 new employees to a total of 376,000, an increase of 10.3 percent. Almost two thirds of these were in the manufacturing sector, a fifth in construction and a good 13 percent in service providers.
Almost 62 billion euros in sales in the field of climate protection
As in previous years, the highest sales in 2022 were generated in the area of climate protection: the companies earned 61.7 billion euros. The most important pillars here included steps to increase energy efficiency and save energy, such as thermal insulation of buildings. Equally important were measures to use renewable energy and the business with goods and services in onshore wind power.
In addition to climate protection, air pollution control with 21.1 billion euros and wastewater management with 10.7 billion euros were the environmental sectors with the highest turnover. In addition, 9.1 billion euros were generated from goods and services in electromobility.
Billions in investments in environmental protection
According to the data, in 2022 the industry invested a total of 13.4 billion euros in so-called tangible goods for environmental protection – for example technical equipment and machinery. Of this, companies invested 6.7 billion euros, almost half (49.7 percent), in the environmental areas of wastewater and waste management. For example, companies invested 4.4 billion euros in systems to reduce the amount of wastewater.
Thousands of companies participated in survey
According to the Federal Statistical Office, 9,684 companies in the manufacturing and service sectors in Germany provided information on environmentally-related sales and employees in order to collect information on goods and services for environmental protection. For the survey of investments in environmental protection, 15,479 companies in the manufacturing sector (excluding construction) stated that they had invested in environmental protection.