Environmental protection in industry has changed significantly in the course of the past 40 years. The true scale of industrial production and its environmental impact first became apparent in the 1970s. End-of-pipe environmental protection measures subsequently led to a definite improvement in the ecosystem components water, air and soil. The 1980s highlighted the limits of end-of-pipe measures in terms of protecting the environment, culminating in a realization that any further reduction in environmental load would have to be based upon profound analysis of production processes. The 1990s were marked by a turning away from a linear source-sink model to circular economy. These measures and trends have made environmental protection a key economic factor globally and for Germany in particular. Industry and society now face a new paradigm shift which abandons a one-sided ecological perspective in favor of a much stronger focus on economic and social dimensions and in that way facilitates sustainable production. This will necessitate looking at entire process chains and process networks both within and between industries.