Brussels – Over the course of ten years, employment in the European Union’s environmental sector has risen from around 3.6 million full-time equivalent jobs in 2014 to 5.8 million in 2023. This represents a net increase of 2.2 million jobs and an average annual growth rate of 5.5 per cent. Looking at the most recent available figures—the change between 2022 and 2023—the data remains positive, with an increase of around 4.2 per cent (from 5.6 million jobs to 5.8 million). This decade-long growth trajectory of the European green economy—steady since 2014 but with a marked acceleration beginning in 2020—is confirmed by the data from the accounts of the European environmental goods and services sector (EGSS) and published today (8 April) by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office.
The environmental economy is a broad and diverse field, encompassing both activities related to environmental protection—such as waste and wastewater management and other environmental conservation activities—and sectors linked to resource management (energy efficiency measures in the construction sector, renewable energy production, and forest management). Among the activities considered in today’s report, the “Clean Air and Energy” sector contributed the most to the growth of green employment in 2023. Compared to 2022, the number of jobs created in this sector—which includes renewable energy production and electric vehicle manufacturing—increased by approximately 1.7 times in 2023. “An increase,” explains Eurostat, “stemming both from renewable energy production itself and from the manufacture of technologies and equipment for renewables and energy efficiency, as well as from the provision of related services such as installation, engineering, and research.” Employment growth is also quite significant in the long term: from 0.6 million full-time equivalent jobs in 2014, the figure rose to 1 million in 2023, representing a 70 per cent increase over ten years.
The “Waste management and materials recovery” sector is also driving employment growth in the European environmental economy. Jobs in this sector rose by 34 per cent between 2014 (0.9 million full-time equivalent jobs) and 2023 (1.3 million). Finally, equally significant growth rates, albeit against a backdrop of a lower absolute number of workers, were recorded in the wastewater management sector: over the course of ten years, the total number of employees rose from 0.4 to 0.6 million, marking an increase of 37 per cent.
The Eurostat report also provides important information on the total value of output from the EU’s green economy. In 2023, activities related to the management of environmental goods and services generated €1.33 billion in output, a 4.3 per cent increase from 2022, when the figure stood at just over €1.2 billion. Since 2014, the value of output in the European environmental economy has risen steadily, with an average increase of 7.9 per cent and total output essentially doubling compared to €0.68 billion twelve years ago. Here too, 2020 can be considered the “turning point”, marking the start of much stronger growth than in the past.
The figures relating to gross value added—that is, the wealth actually generated by each sector of the green economy—are of a different nature. In 2023, the European environmental economy generated €492 billion, marking a slight 0.2 per cent decline compared with the previous year. This brought to an end a trend that had been ongoing since 2014, during which, in addition to employment, the value added from environmental activities had also grown at rates higher than those of the EU economy as a whole.
Finally, the figures relating to labour productivity, which measures the contribution made by each full-time employee to the economy’s total value added. In 2023, the sectors with the highest levels of labour productivity were information and communication and professional, scientific, and technical activities. Conversely, the lowest figures were observed in agriculture, forestry, fishing, and construction.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
