Green Economy Report North Rhine-Westphalia 2017

North Rhine-Westphalia is the largest provider of environmental products and services in Germany. Almost 370,000 people are currently employed in the North Rhine-Westphalian environmental economy (as of 2016).

In 2015, the industry generated around 28 billion euros - more than six percent of the state's gross value added.

With growth of 1.6 percent per year (2010-2016), the number of people employed in the environmental economy is developing more strongly than in many other key sectors of the country, such as mechanical engineering, the chemical industry, the metal and electrical industries.

This is the conclusion of the "Green Economy Report North Rhine-Westphalia 2017", which Prognos AG prepared for the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of the Environment. This is an update and comprehensive deepening of the study from 2015.

The sector is also very strong in terms of its exports and its innovative capability: the export ratio of the North Rhine-Westphalian green economy is 40 percent (2015). In addition, North Rhine-Westphalia is one of the most patented locations in Germany - with 2 percent of the worldwide and 19 percent of all nationwide patents in the environmental economy (2014).

The report also shows that the North Rhine-Westphalian environmental economy still has considerable growth potential - and could continue to be one of the state's job engines in the future.

Method

In order to record the green economy statistically, the experts at Prognos have comprehensively refined the Envigos Demarcation Model. The economic researchers examined the main topic of innovation in a big data analysis - with the help of the innovative Prognos Web Intelligence Tool.

Read the presentation "Green Economy Report 2017" (PDF)

Read the Managemen Summary (PDF, umwelt.nrw.de)

Authors:

Oliver Lühr, Jannis Lambert, Johann Weiß, Nadja Schütz, Mirjam Buck, Katharina Schüle, Georg Klose, Richard Simpson, Esther Dörendahl (Prognos AG), Joachim Liesenfeld (RISP GmbH)