Majority of German start-ups have climate protection in view – report

Climate protection played an important role for just under 60 percent of German start-ups founded last year, state-owned development bank KfW found. Ten percent of start-ups mainly offered climate protection products or services, while 58 percent set their own measures for climate protection, according to the KfW Start-up Monitor. The green transition plays an integral role in bringing together energy security and climate protection, chief economists at KfW, Fritzi Köhler-Geib, said. “It is therefore welcome that climate protection plays such a major role among founders. Because through their offers they make a crucial contribution to the development of important markets for the green transition,” she added.

The start-ups offering products or services directly related to climate protection mainly focus on renewable energy generation, energy efficiency, energy consulting, heating and cooling technology, and the commercial operation of photovoltaic (PV) systems. These are followed by e-mobility, green finance and sustainable tourism. Start-up founders under 30 years old are twice as likely to offer climate protection than those over 50, KfW found. “A switch to climate-friendly processes or products may encounter resistance in established companies due to set structures – and could therefore progress slower – but such frictions should play a smaller role in new companies,” writes report author Georg Metzger.

Many start-ups take advantage of Germany's landmark energy transition, by bringing novel business ideas to market, and take market share from incumbents in sectors from renewables to heating, and from industry to mobility. The green start-up scene is so lively the country has been dubbed a "Green Energy Valley".