Global Green Economy Surpasses $5 Trillion Valuation, Projected to Hit $7 Trillion by 2030

The worldwide green economy has officially surpassed an annual valuation exceeding five trillion US dollars. This landmark figure comes from a joint report released in December 2025 by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Over the last decade, this rapidly expanding sector has firmly established itself as the second fastest-growing segment globally, trailing only the technology industry.

The comprehensive study, titled “A Multi-Billion Dollar Market Already: A CEO’s Guide to Green Economy Growth,” highlights a crucial point for businesses: adopting sustainable business models delivers tangible financial advantages. These benefits include accelerated revenue growth and demonstrably lower borrowing costs for companies making the transition.

A primary driver fueling this acceleration is the substantial reduction in operational expenses associated with clean technologies. This cost decline is largely attributable to massive, dominant investments flowing from China into this specific area. Since 2010, the price tag for solar photovoltaic systems and lithium-ion batteries has plummeted by approximately 90 percent. Furthermore, the costs linked to offshore wind power generation have fallen by half. This dramatic cost compression has rendered many emissions-reduction solutions price-competitive in the marketplace.

Concurrently, investments dedicated to adaptation solutions—such as resilient infrastructure and advanced cooling systems—have reached an annual total of 1.1 trillion US dollars. This figure represents more than 20 percent of all global climate-related investments being made today. The financial rewards for corporations embedding sustainability into their core operations are becoming increasingly measurable.

Analysis conducted on thousands of publicly traded companies reveals that since 2020, revenues generated from green-focused business lines have expanded at twice the rate of traditional business segments. Moreover, firms deriving a minimum of 50 percent of their total revenue from green markets command an average valuation premium ranging from 12 to 15 percent higher than their direct competitors. Looking regionally, for instance, the local value of the green economy in South Africa is currently estimated at 85 trillion South African rands.

Despite ongoing macroeconomic volatility, the aggregate volume of investment channeled into green technologies continues to reach new record highs. The WEF and BCG emphasize that more than half of the necessary reductions required to decarbonize global emissions can be achieved using solutions that are already economically viable. However, a critical 20 percent of essential deep decarbonization technologies still face pricing disadvantages and necessitate focused support from both governments and industry stakeholders to bring costs down.

China has solidified its position as the undisputed global leader in green technology deployment, leading other nations in terms of implementation scale, investment volume, and innovation output. As Pim Walder, Head of Climate and Nature Economy at the WEF, observes, the green economy is not some distant future concept; rather, it is the key growth engine defining the current decade. While mature technologies like solar and wind power have achieved price parity, emerging areas such as low-carbon hydrogen and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) require sustained support to lower their respective cost curves. The forecast growth for the sector, reaching $7 trillion by 2030, confirms that sustainability is now an indispensable component of global market competitiveness.