Free download: The edie environmental consultancy report 2013/14

What is currently top of the agenda for environmental consultancy firms? How are businesses engaging with those firms? And does the environmental consulting market have the potential for further growth? All of the key questions are answered in edie's latest piece of in-depth research.


This year’s report – ‘The consultants, their clients and winning the contract’ – was based on a total of 767 interviews carried out in two online surveys with third-party market research specialist Accent; 489 of those interviews were conducted with purchasers and 278 were with their consultants.

And this year’s results were particularly interesting. (Download of the report for free here).

Impact assesment

More than a third (36%) of purchasers and potential purchasers now use environmental consultancy services. Those working for organisations with more than 250 employees are more likely to use consultancy services, with typical purchasers working in manufacturing, utilities, building, development and construction, central or local government and waste management.

Crucially, purchasers are now typically utilising these consultancy services for energy efficiency, waste management and carbon reduction, and in the next 18 months will be looking to use the same services for impact assessment and planning, carbon reduction and regulatory compliance.

Energy is considered to be the most important resource efficiency area for clients by consultants, followed by waste and water; the importance of all three has increased since edie’s last consultancy report in 2012.
Waste management was the service area that witnessed the biggest growth in consultancy support since 2012, jumping up from 35% of respondents in 2012 to 51% in 2013.

Potential for growth

Looking to the future, new investments in energy and transport infrastructure, combined with increasing requirements for energy/carbon reporting are creating new demand from public and private sector organisations for specialist environmental support services.

But consultancy firms seem significantly more optimistic than their clients regarding the direction of spending on energy, environment and sustainability projects over the next two years. Sixty-four per cent of consultants are budgeting for growth over the next 18 months, compared to just 19% of clients.

The survey concludes that there is enormous potential for growth in the environmental consulting market, as two out of three respondents are not currently engaging with consulting firms.

However, in order to get a handle on those growth opportunities, consultancies need a clear understanding of their clients’ and potential clients’ needs. We have measured both the consultant’s perception and their customers’ reality. But do they match? Find out in the full report, which you can download for free using the link below.

Download the full consultancy report and gain insight into winning future contracts for free here.

The survey for 2014/15 environmental consultancy report is currently live. If you are a consultant or client, you may be receiving an email from our market research agency, Accent, asking you to take part in the survey about the environmental consultancy sector. Please look out for the email as your response is important to us.

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