German government aims to open up lead markets for environmental technologies

The German government aims to systematically tap the major economic potential of environmental technologies for German industry, and further strengthen the link between instruments of environment and innovation policies. To this end, close dialogue with the companies concerned is planned. On the suggestion of Federal Minister for Research Annette Schavan and Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel the "Master Plan Environmental Technologies" was adopted by the Cabinet today.

"Environmental technologies are an excellent example of how we can contribute sustainably to stabilising economic activity through innovations," said Annette Schavan. Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel noted: "today, global market volume for environmental technologies already stands at over 1,000 billion euro; in 2020 it could even be as high as 2,200 billion euro. The master plan highlights the opportunities which Germany already has on this market and specifies the areas where policy will support development."

Environmental technologies already play a substantial role in harmonising the claims of nature and the needs of humans. Moreover, environmental protection is a major economic opportunity for Germany, as German companies already have a leading position on the global market. In 2006, Germany exported environmental goods to a value of 56 billion euro – a 16 percent share of world trade.

With the "Master Plan Environmental Technologies" the Environment and Research ministries have jointly seized the initiative to further consolidate Germany's leading role. In line with the High-Tech Strategy, environment and innovation policies will be closely interlinked to enable lead markets to be opened up in three especially promising areas. In a first step, the government will focus on water, raw materials and climate protection. Particularly strong growth is expected in these areas and in many cases German companies are already technological and world market leaders. In future other submarkets will be incorporated, with all the federal ministries voicing support for the initiative.

Key elements of the master plan are research support, the transfer and dissemination of new technologies, improvements in education and training and support for innovative SMEs, especially in the field of international cooperation. For example, the Federal Research Ministry has earmarked over 250 million euro in funding for four innovation alliances in climate protection. This year and in future the Federal Environment Ministry, as the competent ministry for renewable energies, will provide over 100 million euro for research and technology development. In the field of resource efficiency the Research Ministry is supporting innovative technologies and processes in resource-intensive sectors, e.g. the metal industry. The BMU is joining in with its "resource efficiency network", aimed at encouraging the spread of innovations.

Germany is not only strong in terms of technologies, it also leads the way scientifically and in the application of research results. In the framework programme "research for sustainability" the Federal Research Ministry is supporting groundbreaking innovations in the field of environmental technologies such as innovative concepts for decentralised water supply and disposal, weight-optimised vehicle components inspired by nature and new processes for reducing CO2 emissions in the manufacture of chemical base substances.