The green economy in the Republic was worth about €10.7 billion in 2022, which was an increase of 21 per cent on the previous year, mainly driven by the increased output of the energy sector, a new report from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.
Gross output in the green economy, which covers the environmental goods and services sectors, was also helped by increased activity in the construction sector after a lower output in 2021 due to Covid-19 restrictions.
That being said, the green economy still played only a marginal role in the wider economy, with its gross output amounting to about 1.1 per cent of the national output.
The report shows the gross value added (GVA) of the green economy was estimated at €4.4 billion, while employment totalled 43,600 full-time jobs, which represented a 7 per cent increase on 2021.
Childcare in Ireland: ‘Even as well-paid professionals, it was an exhausting struggle. The numbers never added up’
Smooth Company’s Áine Kennedy: ‘My screen time is outrageous. I don’t have a work-life balance at the moment’
Semi-state CEOs: What do they earn and should they be paid more?
Pay, perks and CEO prerogatives
GVA is the value that producers have added to the goods and services they have bought. When they sell their wares, producers’ income should be more than their costs, and the difference between the two is the value they have added.
Publican Noel Anderson on Grand Slam Bars, taking on Guinness and the rising price of a pint
The green economy is broken down to “environment protection activities”, which accounted for €4.6 billion (43 per cent) of the total environment gross output, and “resource management activities”, which accounted for €6.1 billion (57 per cent).
On a more granular level, the gross output by the industry sector was €9.3 billion in the year, which was up €1.6 billion on 2021. There were 31,600 people employed by the industry sector in the green economy.
The percentage share of gross output in the green economy by the sector was 86 per cent. Construction accounted for €3 billion, or about a third, of industry sector output. The green economy GVA for the industry sector was €3.6 billion.
