Press release No. N064 of 26 October 2021

• The use of renewable energy sources accounted for 52% of climate protection investments in 2019
• Turnover from climate protection products up 61% in 2019 compared with 2009
• Federal Statistical Office publishes new web data on the climate

WIESBADEN – The German industry increasingly invests in climate protection. Enterprises in industry (excluding construction) spent a total of 3.46 billion euros in 2019 on systems which prevent emissions or enable resources to be used more carefully. As a result, investments in this area more than doubled within ten years (2009: 1.63 billion euros). Industrial expenditure on climate protection has also grown in terms of proportion. Although investments in this area accounted for a comparatively small percentage (3.6%) of total investments in 2019, the proportion had stood at just 2.6% of total investments ten years earlier. Legal rules and state funding are the likely reasons for that increase. For many years, government has promoted the transition to production processes using less energy and protecting the climate.

These data are part of the new Climate Change and Climate Protection theme page (only in German) on the website of the Federal Statistical Office.

More than half of the investments are targeted at the use of renewable energy sources

As part of the energy transition in Germany, decarbonising industry – i.e. the abandonment of carbon-based energy sources – has been one of the goals of climate protection policy for quite some time. This is also reflected by the enterprises' investments in climate protection. More than half of these investments (52.4%) went into measures regarding the use of renewable energy sources in 2019 (1.81 billion euros). This includes, for example, wind and solar power stations. Another 1.14 billion euros (33.1%) were invested to increase energy efficiency and energy savings; this includes the thermal insulation of buildings and combined heat and power installations. Although investments in measures for the avoidance of greenhouse gases under the Kyoto Protocol account for a comparatively small amount of roughly 500 million euros (14.5%), they are equally important for the climate. This includes, for instance, the replacement of conventional air conditioning and refrigeration systems with systems using more eco-friendly, halogen free refrigerants.

Enterprises generated turnover of 44 billion euros from climate protection products

The fact that climate protection has increasingly become an economic factor is also shown by the turnover achieved from the relevant goods and services. Industry and the service sector generated turnover of approximately 44.1 billion euros from climate protection products in 2019. Though this was a slight decrease of 3.4% from the previous year, turnover from climate protection products increased by 61% compared with 2009.

Measures to increase energy efficiency and energy savings accounted for more than half of the turnover (57.0% or 25.1 billion euros). This includes, for example, energy-efficient drive and control technology (10.4 billion euros) and the thermal insulation of buildings (5.2 billion euros). Measures regarding the use of renewable energy sources accounted for another 38.8% of turnover (17.1 billion euros). The production and installation of wind power stations (9.6 billion euros) is especially significant in this respect.

14% of official bilateral development assistance spent on climate protection

Higher investments in climate protection also play a major role in official development assistance. In 2019, 2.6 billion euros of the 19 billion euros which Germany spent on public bilateral development assistance were used for financing climate protection measures, which was a proportion of 14%. This proportion has gradually increased in the recent few years. In 2014, the share of investments in climate protection amounted to 13% (1.4 billion euros), while it had been 12% (821 million euros) in 2010.

The Federation and the Länder support measures for developing countries which are mainly aimed at avoiding greenhouse gases or adapting to climate change. 475 million euros were spent on climate protection measures in India in 2019 which means that the country ranked first among the beneficiary countries. It was followed by Mexico (273 million euros) and Peru (143 million euros). Another 2.6 billion euros in 2019 were spent on measures of assistance where climate protection was an important secondary goal.

Methodological notes:

The results of turnover from climate protection products are based on a survey in which 7,949 local units in industry and the service sector in Germany reported data on environmental protection-related turnover and persons employed for the reference year 2019.

The results of climate protection relating to development assistance are based on the annual survey of official and private flows of development assistance in Germany. These are submitted to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and are published. The values shown above are gross expenditure data.

More information:

Detailed results are published in Fachserie 19, Reihe 3.3 “Umsatz und Beschäftigte für den Umweltschutz 2019“ (Environmental protection-related turnover and persons employed, 2019). More information on the survey is available on the Environmental economics theme pages.