The purpose of this study is to provide an economic profile of the California Air Pollution Control (APC) Industry. As the California Air Resources Board (ARB) has developed, introduced and maintained air quality standards and regulation over the years, there have been numerous occasions where the regulated community has objected to the institution of such polices on the grounds of a negative economic impact on their businesses and the California economy.

According to the specialized magazine “Quimica e Derivados” (Chemicals & Derivatives), the need to comply with existing legislation on pollution emissions, the reutilization of raw materials and adoption of environmentally friendly policies, are driving investments in air pollution control equipment and services. The magazine estimates that this market will increase by an estimate 20% per year. In addition to the industrial market, the increased number of CDM projects in sanitary landfills in Brazil is also creating a demand for air pollution technologies and services.

It was presumed that the passage of NAFTA would stimulate considerable growth in markets for environmental goods and services in Mexico, and the rapid development of an environmental industry in Mexico. This paper quantifies the growth and evolution of environmental market in Mexico since 1995, and characterizes the contribution of imports and Mexico’s own environmental industry. NAFTA has not brought proportionally more pollution to Mexico as many feared, but it is gradually bringing higher standards of environmental performance due to the influx of multinational firms operating under their own guidelines. The challenge is to turn these standards into the norm rather than the exception, and working with Mexican authorities to apply similar standards to their environmental infrastructure.