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CEMEPE
Skiathos island, June 2007
Business activities in the environmental
sector in Greece: Current status and
prospects
1Optimisation
2
E. Kondili1*, J. K. Kaldellis2
of Production Systems Lab, Mechanical Eng. Dept., TEI Piraeus
Lab of Soft Energy Applications & Environmental Protection, TEI Piraeus
Objectives of the work
 To present the nature and magnitude of the
environment-related business activities in Greece
today and its prospects,
 To make an assessment of the professional
specialisations that are necessary for the above
business activities, and the implied educational
requirements and
 To highlight the challenging opportunities that are
emerging in the environmental field for businesses,
professionals and the education.
Introduction
The imperative environmental protection needs of the
recent years have created significant business and
professional activities in Europe and in Greece, e.g.
design, construction, operation and maintenance of
environmental protection works,
environmental impact assessment studies,
design, construction and trading of environmental
protection equipment,
development
and
management systems
installation
of
environmental
Environmental businesses: Eco-industries
Environmental business: Activities which produce goods
and services to:
measure,
prevent,
limit,
minimize or
correct
environmental damage to water, air and soil, as well as
problems related to waste, noise and eco-systems.
Environmental businesses: Eco-industries
This includes technologies, products and services that
reduce environmental risk and minimize pollution and
resources consumption” (OECD)
Eco-industries are classified into two broad categories:
pollution management, and
resource management.
Eco-industries in figures
 Total EU eco-industry turnover in 2004: €227 billion
both
from
pollution
management
and
resource
management activities
Distribution of total turnover by pollution management and resource
management activities EU-25, 2004
Eco-industries: Pollution management
 Pollution management consists of nine eco-industry
sectors referring to the “end of pipe” technology:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Solid Waste Management & Recycling (52.4 billion € )
Wastewater Treatment (52.2 billion € )
Air Pollution Control (15.9 billion € )
General Public Administration (11.5 billion € )
Private Environmental Management (5.8 billion € )
Remediation & Clean Up of Soil & Groundwater (5.2 billion € )
Noise & Vibration Control (2 billion € )
Environmental Research & Development (0.11 billion € )
Environmental Monitoring & Instrumentation (1 billion €)
Eco-industries: Pollution management
Breakdown of total turnover by sector for the pollution management
activities, EU-25, 2004
Breakdown of total turnover for the pollution
management activities, EU-25, 2004
160000
140000
120000
100000
80000
Environmental Management
(private)
General administration (public)
Noise & vibration
Remediation & Clean up
Solid Waste Managmenent
M€
60000
Wastew ater Management
40000
Air pollution control
20000
0
Pollution Management
Eco-industries: Resource management
 Resource management includes five eco-industry
sectors that take a more preventive approach.
1. Water Supply (45.7 billion € )
2. Recycled Materials (24.3 billion € )
3. Renewable Energy Production (6.1 billion € )
4. Nature Protection (5.7 billion € )
5. Eco-construction (40 billion € - a supply-side estimate
of eco-construction turnover)
Eco-industries: Resource management
Breakdown of total Breakdown of total turnover by sector
for the resource management activities, EU-25, 2004
Breakdown of total turnover for the resource
management activities, EU-25, 2004
160000
Nature Protection
M€
140000
Renewable Energy
120000
Recycled Materials
100000
Water supply
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
Resource Managem ent
Environmental Business Activities
in Greece
 Started in the middle of 80’s with the construction of
a large number of wastewater treatment plants
 In 2004 the national environmental market was
estimated at approximately 1.5% of the GDP(Min. of Dev.)
 The current period is particularly critical
environment-related business opportunities
for
 There are significant opportunities in the air, liquid
and solid waste market segments, including investment
opportunities and the implementation of new and
advanced technologies
Environmental Business Activities
in Greece: Driving Forces
 EU environmental directives and the associated
national legislation
 The energy sector liberalization efforts
 The gap in solid waste management
 The continuously increasing public environmental
awareness
 The need for environmental equipment and services
Environmental Business Activities
in Greece: Driving Forces
 With a budget that surpassed $700 million, the
National Operational Program for the Environment
(EPPER), funded by the Third Community Support
Framework Program has been instrumental in
shaping environmental policy
Environmental Business Activities
in Greece (turnover)
Eco-industry turnover by sector in Greece for 2004
Environmental Business Activities
in Greece
 Changes in Greece’s environmental laws will
eventually create business potential for applied and
proven environmental technologies
 Today there is a very good established basis of
environmental companies, some of them even
operating since the 80’s
 An Association of Environmental Protection
companies, which today counts 82 members, has
been created in order to support and promote the
professional interests of the companies active in
this sector.
Environmental Business Activities
in Greece
The field of activities of the member companies are:
 Development and implementation of integrated waste
management plants.
 Development, implementation and monitoring of environmental
management systems.
 Technoeconomic feasibility studies of environmental investment
solutions.
 Resource allocation and cost minimization.
 Environmental studies and risk assessment.
Environmental Business Activities
In Greece
 Technical studies for environmental infrastructure.
 Planning, development, operation and restoration of old landfills.
 Recycling and recovery.
 Environmental impact assessment studies.
 Participation in national and European R&D programs.
 Trading of environmental materials, equipment and
instrumentation.
 Operation and management of waste treatment facilities
Environmental professions and education
 Numerous specializations and professions have emerged during
the last years
 Integration of different science fields, engineering, politics,
law, information technology, project management, business
administration, communications, and economics-is at the heart
of the new environmental professions
 A number of undergraduate and postgraduate environmental
engineering and environmental management courses are offered
in the Greek universities
 The qualifications that environmental professionals are required
to have emerge from the changing nature of their job
descriptions.
Environmental professions and education
Nowadays, we find in Greece environmental
professionals to be involved in various fields, such as:
 The engineering and construction sector for the
design and implementation of various environmental
protection infrastructure projects
 Environmental impact assessment studies being a
prerequisite for any production activity
 Development, implementation, monitoring and
auditing of Environmental Management Systems
 Trading of equipment and instrumentation
Environmental professions and education
To respond to the market’s need, a number of undergraduate
and postgraduate courses have been developed and operate in
Greece.
New departments and educational courses have been developed
in the university education, that have an increasing demand from
the students.
In MechEng Department of TEI of Piraeus, there are a number
of courses related to environmental technology and engineering
that have proved to be very successful, within a purely technical
department.
Conclusions
 The environmental sector offers continuously
increasing opportunities for business activities in
Europe and Greece in particular
 To cover the needs of the sector, new professional
specializations have been created
 Significant number of scientists, engineers and other
professionals are now involved in pollution
management and resource management activities
Conclusions (cont.)
 New specialisations in the profession call for
flexible and rapidly
responding
educational
structures, that can adapt to the market needs and
educate valuable environmental practitioners
 Therefore, the environmental studies, possible more
than others, need to be able to adjust their
curriculum to the real society needs
 Furthermore, environmental research is a significant
driving force that creates new methods, tools and
technologies to face or prevent environmental
effects of the production processes.
Acknowledgments
 This research has been conducted within the
framework of the ARCHIMEDES II Environment
Funding of Research Groups, cofunded by the EU
and the Greek Ministry of Education