Pollutec 2027

Pollutec 2027: Where the Sustainable World Is Invented

Pollutec runs from 12 to 15 October 2027 at Eurexpo Lyon, and it remains the largest gathering of its kind in France for anyone whose job involves cleaning up, decarbonising or redesigning the way industry and public services use resources.

The show has been running for 45 years. That longevity matters, because it means Pollutec has tracked the environmental sector through every phase it has passed through, from end of pipe pollution control in the early 1980s to the resource strategy and climate risk work that dominates the agenda now.

What the Show Covers

Pollutec is organised around 11 sectors of expertise spanning water, waste, energy, air quality, risk management, sites and soils, and the services that connect them. The commercial themes highlighted for participants include decarbonisation, the bioeconomy, health and science.

The breadth is the point. A water utility, a heavy industrial operator, a regional authority and a biotechnology startup all have business at the same show, and the four day format is built to let those groups meet each other rather than stay in their own silos.

The Show in Key Figures

• 80,000 square metres of exhibition space
• 51,000 professional participants
• More than 100 countries represented
• 350 conferences across the programme

Highlights Across the Four Days

Official Programme and Forums carry the main conference agenda, running alongside sector specific forums.

Down to Earth, The Expo is the show's dedicated exhibition feature.

Pollutec Innovation Awards recognise new technologies and approaches brought to market by exhibitors.

Talent Hub connects the sector with the people it needs to hire, an increasingly hard constraint on the pace of the transition.

Business Meetings provide the structured matchmaking programme between buyers and suppliers.

Café Pollutec and Happy Hour hold the informal side of the show, where a good share of the useful conversation happens.

Visitor Trails guide attendees through 80,000 square metres by theme, so specialists can find relevant stands without walking the whole floor.

A Visitor Hub and themed guided tours support international attendees working through the programme for the first time.

Voices From the Pollutec Stage

Recent programmes give a sense of the range of speakers Pollutec draws. The 2025 line up included Corinne Lepage, lawyer at Huglo Lepage Associés and former French Minister of the Environment; Antoine Pellion, Executive Vice President at IDEX and former General Secretary for Ecological Planning; Catherine Lagneau, President of BRGM, the French geological survey; Marie Ekeland, Co Founder of the investment firm 2050; Kalina Raskin, President of the biomimicry centre CEEBIOS; Christian Clot, founder of the Human Adaptation Institute; and the mathematician Cédric Villani.

That mix of law, public policy, finance, geoscience and applied research is characteristic of how Pollutec builds its agenda. The 2027 speaker list is not yet published.

Connection to the Sustainable Development Goals

Pollutec touches more of the Sustainable Development Goals than most single events, because its exhibition floor spans the full range of environmental infrastructure and services.

SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation is served by the water treatment, distribution, network and sanitation sectors that have been part of the show since its early years.

SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy covers energy efficiency, recovery and low carbon supply for industrial and municipal users.

SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure runs through the decarbonisation and bioeconomy themes and the Innovation Awards programme.

SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities connects local and regional authorities with waste collection, air quality, urban water and site remediation solutions.

SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production anchors the recycling, reuse and secondary raw materials side of the exhibition.

SDG 13: Climate Action underpins the decarbonisation theme and the adaptation and risk management work now moving up the agenda.

SDG 15: Life on Land is addressed through ecological engineering, biodiversity, polluted sites and soil restoration.

SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals is served by the business meetings programme and the presence of more than 100 countries on the floor.

Who Should Attend

Pollutec is a professional show. Exhibitors use it to put solutions in front of industrial operators, public buyers and international delegations, and the international reach is a large part of the draw for suppliers targeting markets beyond France. Visitors come to learn about new regulations, compare technologies, share operating practice and meet both private and public counterparts in one place.

Key Facts at a Glance

Dates: 12 to 15 October 2027

Location: Eurexpo Lyon, France

Organiser: RX, part of RELX

Running for: 45 years

Scope: 11 sectors of expertise, more than 100 countries represented

Scale: 80,000 square metres, 51,000 professional participants, 350 conferences

Global scope: International

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Pollutec?

Pollutec is an international trade show for environmental and energy solutions, aimed at industry, cities and territories. It covers water, waste, energy, air, soils, risk and the services that support them.

When and where does Pollutec 2027 take place?

Pollutec runs from 12 to 15 October 2027 at Eurexpo Lyon in France.

How is Pollutec different from STEP by Pollutec?

Pollutec in Lyon is the full four day show covering all 11 sectors. STEP by Pollutec is the shorter Paris show, concentrated on decarbonisation and the circular economy, held in December.

Who attends Pollutec?

Attendance is professional and includes industrial operators, utilities, local and regional authorities, engineering firms, investors, researchers and international delegations.

What are the Pollutec Innovation Awards?

The awards recognise new products, technologies and services presented by exhibitors, giving smaller innovators visibility alongside established suppliers on the floor.

Why a Four Day Show Still Works in a Video Call Era

Most professional exchange moved online a long time ago, which makes it worth asking why 51,000 people still travel to Lyon. The answer is the equipment. Environmental technology is physical, and pumps, sorting lines, sensors, membranes and treatment skids are bought by people who want to stand next to a running unit and ask the engineer who built it what breaks first. An 80,000 square metre floor is the only setting where that comparison happens across a hundred suppliers in the same week.

The second answer is regulatory. European environmental rules move quickly, and the gap between a rule being published and operators knowing how to comply with it is where most of the delay in the transition sits. A show that puts regulators, engineers and suppliers in the same building for four days closes that gap faster than a document circular ever will.

For anyone tracking progress against Goals 6, 11, 12 and 13, the interesting measure at Pollutec is not the attendance figure. It is how much of the exhibition floor is filled by technologies that were still at pilot stage at the previous show.

References

Pollutec official site

https://www.pollutec.com/en-gb.html

Pollutec programme

https://www.pollutec.com/en-gb/programme.html