For most of the past 20 years, the environmental industry has been a very significant one, both in Massachusetts and across the country. Some have placed it alongside the electronics, computer hardware, software, biotechnology, fiber optics, and composite materials industries as part of the high-technology sector that has diversified and strengthened the state’s economy. Nationally, environmental industry employment exceeded that of several major manufacturing industries, including chemicals, paper, and aerospace.

In the late 1990s, however, the momentum of the environmental movement began to wane. A decline in both employment and sales suggests that many of the most pressing environmental concerns have been addressed, first by government regulations, then by companies’ in-house pollution-reduction efforts. Industry executives are aware of certain steps that can be taken to keep Massachusetts moving forward in the environmental industry. Still, they have concerns about future growth.