German economy is booming – above all, business with sun, wind and water is flourishing. What years ago no one would have imagined and would not have been perceived in the general public has now become reality: Environmental technology in the broadest sense is way ahead of traditional branches of German record exporting.

“In 2020 this sector will provide for more employees than that of mechanical engineering or the automobile industry,” states Torsten Henzelmann, consultant with Roland Berger, in the 8 April 2007 issue of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. Henzelmann and his colleagues have written an ecology atlas for Germany on behalf of the German federal government, which will be presented during the EU summit in June. Over 1500 companies active in ecological technology were surveyed. Around one million people are currently employed in these companies. In environmental engineering Germany already occupies the leading global position and is the avant-garde of eco-technology. Banks are investing in technologies of the future; climate protection and alternative sources of energy are top items of the political agenda and have gained magnitude in the awareness of the media. In view of these developments it is no wonder that Germany’s Minister of Environment Sigmar Gabriel has named this eco-boom the “third industrial revolution”. Export hits of the eco-industry, one example: Energy requirements in China grow each year by 20 percent. Coal-fired power plants guarantee that 16 of the 20 cities worldwide with the worst air quality are located in the so-called Middle Kingdom, China. This means that the Chinese government needs to invest in soot filters, drinking water purification, and sewage treatment plants. The necessary know-how for operations engineering, chemical engineering and plant construction is “made in Germany”.