Nearly third of German companies offer climate protection products and services

The number of companies in Germany which say they offer goods and services that contribute to climate protection has reached 30 percent, according to results of survey by the state-owned KfW Bank. Some 1.1 million companies make up that figure, highlighting the economic significance of climate protection in the country, wrote KfW. About half of the firms from the construction industry – considered particularly relevant for the success of the energy transition in the building sector – say they offer such products (23 percent of construction companies even prioritise products and services related to climate protection). Forty-one percent of manufacturing companies say they have climate protection goods in their product portfolio. These include products like energy-efficient machines, electric vehicles and wind turbines. Around 22 percent of companies in these sectors primarily specialise in the green tech area.

An examination of medium-term business plans indicates that the range of products and services related to climate protection is set to increase in importance for German companies, said KfW. Nearly a quarter of firms plan to expand their offering in the next three years, particularly companies that already sell green solutions. There is significant potential for new sales opportunities abroad, as global climate protection markets grow, the KfW report noted. Companies looking to further expand their range of green products in the future are more likely to plan foreign investments than other companies and are also more confident about their future competitiveness in the green transformation market, the report added.

Climate protection investments in the manufacturing sector alone rose 74.3 percent between 2011 and 2021, according to a separate recent report by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).