Wirtschaftliche Chancen durch Klimaschutz

Translated title: Economic Opportunities of Climate Action: The Status Quo.

As part of the research project Wirtschaftliche Chancen durch Klimaschutz (‘The Economic Opportunities of Climate Action’), this study describes and quantifies the economic significance of climate action in Germany up to this point.

The turnover, employment and exports of the climate protection industry are calculated using production and industry statistics. To do so, the study assumes that the climate protection industry includes all economic units that produce goods and services for climate protection activities. Based on lists of goods, this makes the share of potential climate protection products in the total production of German industry as high as 3.6 percent. When indirect employment effects are taken into account, climate action creates up to one million jobs in Germany. In addition, based on industry statistics, the share of climate protection technology products in total German exports is estimated at around 9.4 percent.

The study also describes the effects that climate protection has had on innovation. For example, nearly 50 percent of all European patent applications in the field of climate protection come from Germany. In addition, the study describes the impact of climate change on supply security, quantifying the avoided societal costs of climate change as well as the cost savings from reduced energy and resource consumption. The cost savings for both are estimated at tens of billions. Furthermore, the study considers the economic potential of integrating climate protection and resource and material efficiency, and how to avoid bad investments through systematic climate action.