The growing green technology and sustainability market is projected to be worth ~$75bn (~£61bn, ~€72bn) by 2030. To better understand this booming sector, B-corp Bower Collective has released a six-factor tool which maps ‘Green Innovation’ across Europe.
B-corp Bower Collective
UK ranks fourth in European Green Innovation Leaders report
The study evaluates the number and type of environmental Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) start-ups in each country, funding for environmental SDG start-ups, and the number of green technology patents filed per country to reveal how Europe is contributing.
Out of the 28 countries involved in the study, and more than 1,800 environmental SDG start-ups, the UK has ranked fourth behind the Netherlands and France (joint third), Sweden (second), and Germany (first).
The study also examined the quantity and proportion of European green technology patents. Since 2019, just under 80,000 green technology patents have been recorded in the OECD library.
Sweden, with the most investment in green funding and growth in investment over the five years, invested €7.6bn into its sustainable start-ups.
The Netherlands has one of the highest volumes of green start-ups (336), and France scored highly for the number of issued green technology patents, with 1,445 listed over the last three years.
Germany has the most listed green start-ups of all the countries in the study with 364, the largest proportion of these concerning climate action (35%) and sustainable cities and communities (26%).
When considering the number of all sustainable start-ups in each country, the European winners are different. The UK ranked top of this list with more than half (55%) of all registered start-ups contributing towards green SDGs.
Over the past three years, Germany has registered an impressive 3,995 green technology patents, with France coming second with 1,445 and the UK third with 1,066 listed patents.
Denmark, according to the study, is leading the green technology race with around 21% of all technology patents in the country considered ‘green’. Austria (14%) and Norway (14%) complete the top three in this category.