Number of green jobs up 2% in Germany in 2020 as industry turnover grows

Companies in Germany generated 78.9 billion euros in turnover with goods, construction and services for environmental protection in 2020 - a 7.2 percent increase compared to 2019, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said. The highest turnover was achieved with goods and services for climate protection (47.2 billion euros), most importantly products to increase energy efficiency and save energy (25.9 billion euros), and measures to use renewable energies (19.8 billion euros). The number of employees producing goods and services for environmental protection stood at 311,000, up by around 6,000 compared to the year before (2% increase). Two thirds of the green jobs are within the manufacturing industry which also generated the majority of the environment-related turnover (73.7%). A total of 35.8 percent of the turnover in this sector was generated by energy-efficient drive and control technology (excluding electromobility), and 19.6 percent by onshore wind power goods and services.

While Germany's push to greatly expand its renewable power capacity in the next years is expected to offer great business opportunities for the companies involved, concerns that growing costs and labour shortages could hamper a breakthrough for the industry are mounting. Many producers of renewable power installations struggled to stay afloat in Germany in the past years and the wind power as well as the solar power sector have shed tens of thousands of jobs over the past decade.