Green tech: Economy follows ecology

Hardly any segment is currently growing faster than environmental technologies. As a result, the innovative sector is gaining hugely in importance worldwide as a sustainable economic factor.

Demand for environmental and climate protection technologies is growing worldwide, as governments, companies, and consumers increasingly recognize the urgency of acting ecologically. Companies are benefiting twofold from this trend. Through innovations and investments, they are pointing the way to an energy-efficient future with its own cost-cutting potential, while at the same time general sustainability efforts are opening up new markets with attractive business models. That is also and especially true for the electronics industry, since electronics plays a key role in almost all areas.

The analysts from Market Research Future forecast that the global green tech market will grow from 20.6 billion US dollars in 2023 to 37.2 billion US dollars by 2032. North America recorded the most dynamic growth in 2022. By 2030, however, the main focus is expected to shift to the Asia-Pacific region (APAC), where China has the largest share, but India is growing the fastest.

The analysts at MarketsandMarkets are much more optimistic in their outlook. They expect an increase from 28.6 billion US dollars in 2024 to 134.9 billion US dollars by 2030.

Other analyst firms such as Precedence Research (2032: 89.18 billion US dollars), Future Market Insights (2032: 122.69 billion US dollars) ,Insight Partners (2030: 63.94 billion US dollars) or Grand View Research (2030: USD 79.65 billion) are somewhere in between with their figures.

The consulting firm MHP Management- und IT-Beratung – A Porsche AG Company – sees the market potential for green tech in Germany at a volume of 856 billion euros by 2030. 91 percent of the players are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Green tech is more than solar and wind power

The term “green technologies” covers far more than just renewable energies. Under the term, Wikipedia includes all innovative processes, products and services that achieve increases in efficiency, performance or productivity while simultaneously reducing emissions and conserving resources.

The GreenTech Atlas 2021 by Roland Berger, commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, lists seven lead markets. Among them are the environmentally friendly generation, storage and distribution of energy, energy efficiency, raw material and material efficiency, the circular economy, and sustainable mobility, water, agriculture and forestry.

Key players in “green” technologies

In terms of technologies, the analysts at Strait Research divide the market into the segments Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and analysis, digital twins, cloud computing, security, and blockchain. IoT dominates with the largest share in 2022 and the strongest growth rates up to 2030.

World-class patents for green tech

However, future “green” market growth depends to a large extent on inventions. World-class patents are particularly indicative of the innovative strength of countries and regions. Their number in the green tech sector grew between 2010 and 2022 from just under 50,000 to over 150,000.

A study by the Bertelsmann Stiftung shows that the U.S. remains the leading research location. Every third world-class patent, especially in the categories “New Mobility”, “Energy Efficient Systems” or “Climate Change Adaptation Technologies”, comes from the United States. China has tripled its world-class patents in the last five years and is in second place. With just under 10,000 world-class patents, Germany’s share in the EU in 2022 was over 50 percent, but only just under 7 percent worldwide.