Green tech series report

"Environmental technology is the lead industry in the 21st century", says Professor Burkhard Schwenker, CEO of Roland Berger. "There are high hopes that this sector will soften the blow of stagnation in other branches of industry, for example. It is also seen as a way to combat climate change and the raw materials crisis. In addition, environmental technology will ease the burden of pollution as the world's population continues to grow." The Green Tech Atlas 2.0, prepared by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants on behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, lays a firm foundation for green programs to stimulate the economy. As such, it will make an important contribution to what is already being termed the "global green recovery" – the recovery of the global economy on the back of a booming environmental technology industry. "Environmental technologies already contribute about 8% of Germany's gross domestic product," Schwenker notes. "By 2020, this figure will have risen to 14%."

Environmental technology in the international arena

Watson Liu, partner of Roland Berger, pointed out that their position on the global market and their future potential make the six national markets of the USA, Japan, Brazil, Russia, India and China vitally important to the green-tech industry. "Almost all the lead markets hold out vast potential for German companies," Henzelmann says. "As things stand, though, these countries' markets are still largely dominated by domestic players." There are nevertheless many indicators that German firms will remain successful on the world's markets in future, and that environmental protection will continue to fuel employment in the years ahead. However, a forward-looking, innovation-focused environmental policy is essential if this potential is to be realized.