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Environment Goods and Services Sector 2020

Key Findings

Environment Goods and Services Estimated Gross Output was €7.8 billion in 2020

Online ISSN: 2737-7687

CSO statistical release, 22 March 2023, 11am

COVID-19 Release Information

This release is based on activity in the year 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Environment Goods and Services estimates for 2020 have been impacted by the pandemic.

Key Findings

Estimated gross output of environment goods and services (Green Economy) was €7.8 billion in 2020, a decrease of 4% on 2019.
Environment protection activities accounted for €3.6 billion (46%) of total environment gross output in 2020.
Resource management activities accounted for €4.2 billion (54%) of gross output. The percentage share related to resource management activities in 2020 has increased since 2014 largely due to growth in renewable energy.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (22 March 2023) released Environment Goods and Services Sector 2020.

Commenting on the release Gerard Keogh, Statistician in the Environment and Climate Division, said: "Estimated gross output in environment goods and services was €5 billion in 2012, and increased steadily to reach €8.2 billion in 2019 before falling back to €7.8 billion in 2020. As a percentage of national accounts output, estimated gross output in environment goods and services in 2020 was 1.1%.

Estimated gross value added (GVA) in environment goods and services in 2020 was €3.4 billion (See Table 1B). As a percentage of environment goods and services gross output, GVA was 44% in 2020.

Estimated (full-time equivalents) employment in environment goods and services was 43,000 in 2020 (See Table 1C). This was a 1.2% increase on employment in 2019.

Estimated environment goods and services gross output by the industry sector was €6.6 billion in 2020 (See Table 2A). The percentage share of gross output in environment goods and services by the industry sector was 85% in 2020. Construction accounted for €2.1 billion (32%) of output by the industry sector.

Estimated environment goods and services GVA by the industry sector was €2.7 billion in 2020 (See Table 2B). The percentage share of GVA by the industry sector was 79% in 2020.

Estimated (full-time equivalents) employment by the industry sector was 32,500 in 2020 (See Table 2C). The percentage share of employment by the industry sector was 76% in 2020."

Environment goods and services sector activities can be classified according to their purpose. Regulation (EU) 691/2011 distinguishes two broad types of environment activities according to their purpose:

Environmental protection activities include all activities and actions which have as their main purpose the prevention, reduction and elimination of pollution and of any other degradation of the environment, and
Resource management activities include the preservation, maintenance and enhancement of the stock of natural resources and therefore the safeguarding of those resources against depletion.

Graphs and Tables

X-axis label	Environment protection	Resource management
2011	2.34542518527945	2.67007817391704
2012	2.23564449371555	2.72645909226885
2013	2.40211108556444	2.9198609944414
2014	2.89429081577122	2.90234222623398
2015	2.89217191280678	3.20448485682337
2016	3.00833113002112	3.22910964920907
2017	3.17208947084513	3.67444982404436
2018	3.07194082419596	3.99443833156429
2019	3.50962949811387	4.63799199188598
2020	3.55677948044536	4.2404326774097

	Agriculture	Manufacturing	Electricity and gas	Water and Wastewater	Waste and Remediation	Construction	Services
2011	0.261732386779118	0.634624141814543	0.363085850555323	0.801184223186216	1.40392697470479	0.98638054372992	0.56456923842658
2012	0.276080189189002	0.623894139173123	0.37164812240729	0.788959091955797	1.23890520644239	1.05136640782621	0.611250428990596
2013	0.292793783977511	0.692873034168683	0.380757313728105	0.933532900108494	1.29856517555	1.09621960733976	0.627230265133288
2014	0.251413914951424	0.718004810605314	0.377439575723464	0.856528514601074	1.35741622167142	1.62298810014808	0.61284190430442
2015	0.20527555035303	0.819928124068065	0.560284790605025	0.910754365602285	1.28194602403687	1.61098810014808	0.70747981481679
2016	0.250516927695183	0.795002301240576	0.530527292630362	1.07578190953496	1.25886935997047	1.62249041079187	0.704252577366772
2017	0.303792692629149	0.833672539464396	0.683991316874383	1.2762023315418	1.41763076878734	1.65832330393554	0.672926018656886
2018	0.295219996418776	0.893815983034057	0.766789956131418	1.334014927543	1.30318282873038	1.75174313356471	0.72160983433791
2019	0.354076103247788	0.907748491715472	0.94845575151241	1.61127045045292	1.42389639363875	2.17383994746031	0.728334351972208
2020	0.398634064852814	0.68161172400793	1.0372986273542	1.31277119674298	1.4726513225121	2.10999764501602	0.784247577369016

Table 1A Environment Goods and Services Sector Gross Output by Detailed Environment Activity, 2011-2020

Table 1B Environment Goods and Services Sector Gross Value Added (GVA) by Detailed Environment Activity, 2011-2020

Table 1C Environment Goods and Services Sector Employment by Detailed Environment Activity, 2011-2020

Table 2A Environment Goods and Services Sector Gross Output by Broad Environment Activity and NACE Sector, 2011-2020

Table 2A Environment Goods and Services Sector Gross Output by Broad Environment Activity and NACE Sector, 2011-2020
€m
	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Total	5,016	4,962	5,322	5,797	6,097	6,237	6,847	7,066	8,148	7,797
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (01-03)	262	276	293	251	205	251	304	295	354	399
Industry (05-43)	4,189	4,075	4,402	4,932	5,184	5,283	5,870	6,050	7,065	6,614
Manufacturing (05-33)	635	624	693	718	820	795	834	894	908	682
Electricity and gas (35)	363	372	381	377	560	531	684	767	948	1,037
Water and Wastewater (36-37)	801	789	934	857	911	1,076	1,276	1,334	1,611	1,313
Waste and Remediation (38-39)	1,404	1,239	1,299	1,357	1,282	1,259	1,418	1,303	1,424	1,473
Construction (41-43)	986	1,051	1,096	1,623	1,611	1,622	1,658	1,752	2,174	2,110
Services (45-96)	565	611	627	613	707	704	673	722	728	784

Environment protection	2,345	2,236	2,402	2,894	2,892	3,008	3,172	3,072	3,510	3,557
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (01-03)	259	274	290	247	202	244	303	294	354	332
Industry (05-43)	1,918	1,780	1,925	2,421	2,437	2,483	2,621	2,579	2,946	2,946
Manufacturing (05-33)	136	133	148	156	180	178	179	218	217	160
Electricity and gas (35)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
Water and Wastewater (36-37)	392	386	457	457	498	518	541	562	624	596
Waste and Remediation (38-39)	1,206	1,064	1,115	1,182	1,140	1,131	1,238	1,117	1,255	1,339
Construction (41-43)	184	196	204	627	619	657	663	681	850	850
Services (45-96)	168	182	187	226	253	281	248	199	210	280

Resource management	2,670	2,726	2,920	2,902	3,204	3,229	3,674	3,994	4,638	4,240
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (01-03)	2	3	3	5	4	6	1	1	0	67
Industry (05-43)	2,272	2,295	2,477	2,511	2,747	2,799	3,249	3,471	4,119	3,669
Manufacturing (05-33)	499	491	545	562	640	617	655	675	690	521
Electricity and gas (35)	363	372	381	377	560	531	684	767	948	1,037
Water and Wastewater (36-37)	409	403	476	400	412	558	735	772	988	717
Waste and Remediation (38-39)	198	175	183	176	142	128	180	186	169	134
Construction (41-43)	803	855	892	996	992	965	995	1,070	1,324	1,260
Services (45-96)	396	429	440	386	454	423	425	523	519	505
- Not applicable

Open in Excel: Environment Goods and Services Sector 2020 Table 2A (XLS 14KB)

Table 2B Environment Goods and Services Sector Gross Value Added (GVA) by Broad Environment Activity and NACE Sector, 2011-2020

Table 2C Environment Goods and Services Sector Employment by Broad Environment Activity and NACE Sector, 2011-2020

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Table 1C Environment Goods and Services Sector Employment by Detailed Environment Activity, 2011-2020
'000 full-time equivalents
	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Total	30.6	28.9	31.5	32.4	33.5	32.7	38.3	42.2	42.5	43.0
Annual % change	-6.3%	-5.7%	9.0%	3.0%	3.2%	-2.2%	17.0%	10.3%	0.6%	1.2%
% of Labour Force Employment	1.6%	1.5%	1.6%	1.6%	1.6%	1.5%	1.7%	1.9%	1.9%	1.9%

Environment protection	16.6	15.2	17.1	18.6	17.5	16.4	19.2	24.6	22.7	23.8
Wastewater management	2.1	2.1	2.3	3.7	3.5	3.4	3.6	7.5	6.2	5.9
Waste management	8.3	7.9	9.0	9.1	8.8	8.8	9.5	10.5	9.7	10.5
Soil and surface water protection	2.2	1.9	2.1	2.2	2.4	1.5	2.4	2.6	2.6	2.5
Other environment protection related activities	3.9	3.3	3.7	3.6	2.9	2.6	3.7	4.0	4.1	4.9

Resource management	14.0	13.7	14.4	13.9	16.0	16.4	19.1	17.6	19.8	19.2
Water	3.3	3.3	3.5	4.6	4.3	5.3	5.1	4.6	6.9	5.9
Renewable energy production	5.8	5.6	5.9	4.0	5.8	5.1	5.2	3.9	4.1	4.0
Energy saving	3.1	3.0	3.2	3.7	4.0	4.0	6.2	6.4	6.3	6.0
Scrap, recycling and minerals	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.8	0.9	0.8	0.9	0.9	0.7	0.8
Other resource management related activities	1.2	1.0	1.1	0.9	1.0	1.0	1.7	1.8	1.9	2.5

Table 2C Environment Goods and Services Sector Employment by Broad Environment Activity and NACE Sector, 2011-2020
'000 full-time equivalents
	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Total	30.6	28.9	31.5	32.4	33.5	32.7	38.3	42.2	42.5	43.0
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (01-03)	4.1	4.1	4.2	3.9	3.3	2.3	3.3	2.9	3.2	3.8
Industry (05-43)	21.5	19.7	22.1	24.9	25.9	26.4	29.6	33.8	32.9	32.5
Manufacturing (05-33)	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.5	4.0	3.5	3.5	2.9	2.9	3.4
Electricity and gas (35)	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.8	0.9	1.1	1.3	1.6	1.6
Water and Wastewater (36-37)	3.2	3.3	3.5	4.0	3.7	4.2	4.8	4.2	5.8	4.6
Waste and Remediation (38-39)	8.0	6.7	8.5	8.5	8.2	8.1	8.3	9.1	8.3	9.3
Construction (41-43)	9.6	9.0	9.4	8.2	9.2	9.7	11.9	16.3	14.3	13.6
Services (45-96)	5.1	5.1	5.2	3.7	4.3	4.1	5.4	5.5	6.4	6.8

Environment protection	16.6	15.2	17.1	18.6	17.5	16.4	19.2	24.6	22.7	23.8
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (01-03)	4.0	4.1	4.2	3.8	3.2	2.3	3.3	2.9	3.2	3.1
Industry (05-43)	11.0	9.5	11.3	13.3	12.8	12.5	14.1	19.9	17.3	17.8
Manufacturing (05-33)	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.7	0.8	0.8	0.9	0.7	0.7	0.7
Electricity and gas (35)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0.0
Water and Wastewater (36-37)	0.9	0.8	0.8	2.1	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.2	2.2	2.1
Waste and Remediation (38-39)	7.4	6.2	7.8	7.9	7.5	7.4	7.6	8.4	7.9	8.9
Construction (41-43)	2.7	2.5	2.6	2.6	2.4	2.2	3.6	8.6	6.5	6.1
Services (45-96)	1.6	1.6	1.6	1.5	1.5	1.6	1.8	1.8	2.2	2.8

Resource management	14.0	13.7	14.4	13.9	16.0	16.4	19.1	17.6	19.8	19.2
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (01-03)	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.6
Industry (05-43)	10.5	10.2	10.8	11.6	13.2	13.9	15.6	13.9	15.6	14.6
Manufacturing (05-33)	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.9	3.2	2.7	2.7	2.2	2.2	2.6
Electricity and gas (35)	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.8	0.9	1.1	1.3	1.6	1.6
Water and Wastewater (36-37)	2.3	2.5	2.6	1.9	1.7	2.2	2.8	2.0	3.5	2.5
Waste and Remediation (38-39)	0.6	0.5	0.6	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.5	0.4
Construction (41-43)	6.9	6.5	6.8	5.6	6.8	7.5	8.3	7.7	7.8	7.5
Services (45-96)	3.5	3.5	3.5	2.2	2.8	2.5	3.5	3.7	4.2	4.0
- Not applicable

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Environment Goods and Services Sector 2020

Key Findings

Environment Goods and Services Estimated Gross Output was €7.8 billion in 2020

COVID-19 Release Information

Key Findings

Statistician's Comment

Graphs and Tables

Contents

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Table 1B Environment Goods and Services Sector Gross Value Added (GVA) by Detailed Environment Activity, 2011-2020
€m
	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Total	1,841	2,034	2,196	2,166	2,423	2,451	2,883	3,347	3,607	3,437
Annual % change	-9.0%	10.5%	8.0%	-1.4%	11.8%	1.2%	17.6%	16.1%	7.8%	-4.7%
% of gross output in environment goods and services	37%	41%	41%	37%	40%	39%	42%	47%	44%	44%
% of Modified GNI	1.5%	1.6%	1.6%	1.5%	1.5%	1.4%	1.6%	1.7%	1.7%	1.7%

Environment protection	860	931	995	1,065	1,063	1,062	1,226	1,439	1,619	1,445
Wastewater management	196	216	232	414	401	402	459	685	660	576
Waste management	496	549	589	444	462	470	535	493	674	522
Soil and surface water protection	67	66	69	75	80	58	69	89	97	101
Other environment protection related activities	101	100	104	131	120	132	163	172	188	246

Resource management	981	1,102	1,201	1,102	1,360	1,389	1,657	1,908	1,988	1,992
Water	244	281	308	408	463	533	523	644	683	655
Renewable energy production	392	441	480	366	529	487	519	534	563	640
Energy saving	234	263	286	208	239	239	397	496	501	425
Scrap, recycling and minerals	35	40	44	64	67	62	86	102	88	80
Other resource management related activities	75	76	82	55	63	69	132	132	154	191

Table 2B Environment Goods and Services Sector Gross Value Added (GVA) by Broad Environment Activity and NACE Sector, 2011-2020
€m
	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Total	1,841	2,034	2,196	2,166	2,423	2,451	2,883	3,347	3,607	3,437
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (01-03)	90	76	85	80	71	61	83	84	106	130
Industry (05-43)	1,407	1,605	1,742	1,810	2,046	2,060	2,366	2,823	2,957	2,727
Manufacturing (05-33)	241	237	236	229	267	235	270	311	296	278
Electricity and gas (35)	198	215	225	190	275	261	278	308	336	406
Water and Wastewater (36-37)	313	348	367	531	582	632	688	698	798	723
Waste and Remediation (38-39)	479	533	562	414	436	440	509	492	651	494
Construction (41-43)	176	271	352	445	486	492	621	1,015	875	826
Services (45-96)	344	353	369	276	306	329	434	440	544	580

Environment protection	860	931	995	1,065	1,063	1,062	1,226	1,439	1,619	1,445
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (01-03)	89	75	84	79	69	57	82	84	106	108
Industry (05-43)	665	748	798	870	881	876	984	1,227	1,340	1,110
Manufacturing (05-33)	52	51	51	52	60	52	62	69	71	61
Electricity and gas (35)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0
Water and Wastewater (36-37)	127	141	149	275	290	307	347	318	374	314
Waste and Remediation (38-39)	453	504	531	370	392	395	446	410	585	444
Construction (41-43)	33	51	66	173	139	122	128	430	310	291
Services (45-96)	106	109	114	117	112	129	160	128	173	227

Resource management	981	1,102	1,201	1,102	1,360	1,389	1,657	1,908	1,988	1,992
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (01-03)	1	1	1	2	2	5	1	0	0	22
Industry (05-43)	742	858	945	940	1,165	1,184	1,382	1,596	1,617	1,618
Manufacturing (05-33)	189	186	185	177	208	183	208	242	226	217
Electricity and gas (35)	198	215	225	190	275	261	278	308	336	406
Water and Wastewater (36-37)	186	207	219	257	291	325	340	380	424	409
Waste and Remediation (38-39)	26	29	31	45	44	45	63	82	66	50
Construction (41-43)	143	220	286	272	346	370	493	585	566	535
Services (45-96)	238	244	255	160	194	201	274	311	371	353
- Not applicable