Project

Job and Value Creation in the Clean Technology Sector in Switzerland

The Swiss Federal Council introduced the Clean Technology Master Plan to facilitate sustainable economic activities. EBP investigated the macroeconomic significance of clean technology and assessed the industry’s development since 2009.

The Swiss Federal Council has attached special significance to the role of Clean Technology in the country’s efforts to establish a more future-oriented and sustainable approach to industrial and economic development. With its Clean Technology Master Plan, the Federal Council is now seeking to reinforce the capacity of Swiss clean technology companies to develop and market innovative products by facilitating cooperation between research institutions, private enterprises and government agencies (Federal Council, 2011).

In connection with reporting activities related to the Clean Technology Master Plan, EBP was commissioned to update the available macroeconomic data for the clean technology sector in Switzerland for the first time since they were gathered in 2009.

The current economic significance of clean technology, measured in terms of gross value added and job creation, was ascertained using an industry-wide survey. This survey deploys a working definition of clean technology that is oriented on a distinct environmental goods and services sector (EGSS), a statistical instrument used throughout Europe today to measure the economic significance of environmental technologies, goods and services.

The figures for Switzerland reflect the clean tech industry’s development since 2009 and clean tech’s share of overall economic activity. In the interest of facilitating future surveys of clean technology’s macroeconomic significance, the study concludes with a proposal to include clean technology in an EGSS satellite account of the country’s national income and product accounts (NIPA).

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