«Green tech made in Germany: how fit for the future are we?»

Climate change requires a fundamental transformation of our economy, particularly in the areas of industry, energy and transportation. This transformation cannot succeed without accelerated technological development and innovation due to the high time pressure. After all, achieving the decarbonization targets would overstretch the capacities of mature technologies in Germany. Negative emissions (e.g. through carbon dioxide filters, capture and sequestration) are increasingly necessary to achieve the climate targets. This requires technologies that are currently still in the demonstration or prototype phase. The development and diffusion of innovations in the field of “green tech” are crucial for the competition between locations and for the fight against climate change.

For this reason, this study analyzes the most important global trends in the field of green technologies. The aim is to identify those countries that have the best technological basis for developing, for example, more efficient photovoltaic cells, better fuel cells, new battery recycling methods or market-ready carbon capture and storage systems. A particular focus was placed on Germany’s position in the most important green technology fields.

The study was published by the Bertelsmann Foundation.