The business climate in the European waste-to-energy (WtE) industry is “better than it has ever been” since the first WtE industry barometer in 2012, according to a survey annually conducted by consultancy ecoprog, with the support of the Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants (CEWEP).
The business climate in the Waste-to-Energy (WtE) industry remains very positive, it says. For the plant operators, who already reported high levels in the past year, it has improved once again. The industrial WtE companies are now also assessing their business climate as “excellent”.
For the WtE plant operators, the business climate has improved again over the previous year, reaching almost 50 points. The currently positive business situation remains at a very high level. More than 70% of the plant operators assess their business situation to be favourable, only 1% think it is negative.
The second pillar of the business climate, business expectations, has again increased considerably when compared to 2017. About a third of the operators expect an even more positive development for the next 12 months.
The industrial WtE companies assess their current business situation to have improved significantly in the past 12 months. Almost 50% of the technology providers, engineers and suppliers think that their current business situation is positive – compared to less than one third in 2017.
In the past months, the order situation has improved for more then 50% of the companies and not a single one reports a deteriorated situation. In terms of business expectations, the picture is twofold: while one half expects business to remain the same, the other half expects improvements.
The calculation of the 2018 WtE industry barometer was carried out according to a method developed by the ifo Institute. Additionally, we have asked questions about current developments – the responding WtE plant operators reported on their heat use and what they think about the effects of the Chinese waste import ban; the technology suppliers gave insight into their expectations for different market regions worldwide and for upcoming modernisations of European WtE plants.
Cologne-based consultancy ecoprog GmbH carries out the survey and the evaluation for the WtE industry barometer. The Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants, CEWEP, is the European umbrella organisation for WtE plant operators, and supports the survey.
The WtE industry barometer is available as a free download here.
