This is free marketing research on the Environmental Services industry can include information on the background, market structure, definitions, competitors, trends and developments of environmental services and is related to pollution, air and water management.

Table of Contents

[edit] Background

Environmental services refers to a set of activities marketed to reduce, control, and/or monitor environmental pollutants. That set includes consulting, engineering and design, construction, operations and maintenance (facility management), and other services organized around environmental facilities or primarily for environmental benefit. This includes water treatment services, waste and hazardous waste management services, and other elements covered more comprehensively in other sections of this chapter. The global market for environmental services is currently estimated at approximately $250 billion, growing at an estimated average rate of 2 percent.

[edit] Market Structure

Overall, this group has been characterized by the marks of a maturing industry. Industry consolidation is the most prominent mark. Strong price competition and the thinning profit margins that result reinforce this trend. Regulatory incentives continue to be the primary driver for the market. However, as a result of the industry integrating regulatory compliance into core operations and remediation and ongoing cleanup activities, the effectiveness of this driver in the domestic market will continue to diminish. A positive trend in domestic regulation is that regulatory agencies are devoting more attention to voluntary programs that encourage industry to look beyond regulatory compliance to find the best comprehensive environmental management solutions.

International trade and cooperative agreements as well as the activities of multinational companies are helping to spread this orientation to developing markets. The strengthening of trade ties is accompanied by the spread of environmental concerns and standards. Multinational manufacturers that are accustomed to operating in more strict regulatory environments than they might find in some developing nations have raised the bar with regard to environmentally responsible operations in many of those nations. This suggests that firms are finding more benefit in the standardization of facilities and practices, environmental risk reduction, and the competitive advantage of sound environmental management than in taking advantage of the lagging regulation and enforcement they may find in developing markets. Also, guidelines such as the ISO 14001 series administered by the International Standards Organization (ISO) and the Kyoto Protocol continue to penetrate international markets through regulatory and industrial channels, helping to drive growth in environmental services.

With the current focus on the environment, global warming and other "green" activity, environmental services have become a high growth business in the decade. The number of firms in the industry has grown significantly.

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Employment in the industry has likewise bloomed in the past few years. The workforce grew almost 25% and now likely totals approximately 60,000 workers in the U.S.

This is still a fragmented industry. Many small environmental service firms have proliferated and the 50 largest firms still controlled only one quarter of the industry's total revenues in 2002.

Concentration of Revenue by number of firms in the industry is as follows:


Total Number of firms       Revenue as % of all firms in the industry

     4 largest                               6.7%
     8 largest                              10.6%
    20 largest                              18.0%
    50 largest                              27.2%

[edit] Market Metrics

As indicated above, expansion in the industry increases. Revenues now total $8 billion and should continue to expand if not accelerate towards 2010.

[edit] Recent Trends and Developments

Stiff domestic competition, industrialization, infrastructure development, and privatization in international markets continue to provide U.S. firms with export opportunities. U.S. exports of environmental services were estimated to be approximately $4 billion in the late 1990s. Continued industry consolidation and uncertainty in international markets are the likely causes for this downturn.

Although industry consolidation has been the most obvious mark of the maturation of the market, it seems to have spurred activity and creativity in some respects. Some smaller companies have survived by offering more focused client attention in specialized technical or geographic niche markets. Larger firms are solidifying their positions by capitalizing on the contacts and reputations of the smaller firms they integrate. For these firms, mergers, acquisition, and restructuring are often part of a strategy to provide the broader capabilities and deeper technological knowledge needed to respond to more comprehensive environmental management demands from end users.

The long-term future of the industry will depend on the establishment and strengthening of more pure market drivers. There is some evidence that markets are beginning to attach financial value to environmental leadership. One example is the continuing momentum of emissions credit trading and environmental performance bond schemes in domestic and international markets. Industry is starting to seek opportunities to capitalize on these mechanisms. However, since the mechanisms usually are administered by government entities, such vehicles represent only a step in the right direction.

[edit] Sources

• Most current US government sources