Development of the environment business sector

• Environment as job motor

• Examples

• Environment as a regional development strategy

Gottfried Lamers

Environment as policy task• Environment is a policy field and has its own value (as

health policy, defence or others)• Jobs are not the primary goal of environmental policy and

environment in a narrow sense produces only a limited number of jobs (WWTP)

• „smart“ environmental policy combines different economic sectors with environmental tasks

• Additional environmental measures (ambiguous environmental policy) create markets and jobs

Business development• Various forecasts of development opportunities

are published– ETAP progress report 2004: Environmental industries

have in total a volume of 500 bln. € (comparable with the pharmacy-sector) and an increase of 5 % per year

– BAP impact assessment: Increasing the share of renewable energy + 5 % until 2010 will create 250.000 – 300.000 new jobs

6 types of activitiesEnvironment as an economic driver

Use of environment inbranding and niche

marketing

Conserving environmentalassets whilst delivering

economic gain

Attracting and retaining skills,business and investment

Environmentas an

economicdriver

Environmental Managementskills for business

Environment sector businessdevelopment

Resource efficiency forcompetitiveness

Governmental measures for developing of a business sector

• Promotion of the single enterprise (CIP)– Start-up and seed financing,

– Guarantees for producers

– Infrastructure (technology centre)

– Providing soft skills (business angels, market studies,)

• Creating a market (LIFE)– Requirements (particular filters)

– Subsidies for applications

– Advertisement (demonstration projects, green public procurement, awards)

• Regional strategy (SF)– Combining the different measures into a coherent strategy

Creation of a market• Requirements:

– Negative appearance– Creates only the basic environmental sector– No expansion potential

• Subsidies– Develop the entrance in a market– Leverage effect– High signal effect

• Soft measures– Influencing people (including business men)– 7 key principles of human behaviour (env. agency + nef see:

www.neweconomics.org)

Evaluation of the measures• Evaluation of the environmental subsidy scheme in

Austria (2004)– All climate relevant actions: 50,8 Mio. € subsidies, 232

Mio. € investments, 3.100 jobs, 56,7 Mio. € state income by taxes

– Biomass heating, CHP: 43 Mio. € subsidies, 190 Mio. investments, 2.530 jobs, 45,8 Mio. € state income by taxes

• Evaluation results serve as an additional argument – main reason for the actions is still the climate change

Results of the subsidies

Effects on the economy