The launch of IFAT CHINA in Shanghai in 2004 has turned the world's largest environmental trade fair, IFAT, into a global player.

IFAT Munich is the world's leading trade fair for environmental solutions. Ever since its start in 1966, the number of exhibitors and the amount of floor space has been increasing constantly. At IFAT 2008 over 2,605 exhibitors from 41 countries (more than ever before in the over 40-year history of the fair) presented innovative technologies for water procurement, sewage and waste disposal. The show attracted 120,000 trade visitors from 170 countries at an exhibition area of 170,000 m².

Messe München International (MMI), the organizer of IFAT CHINA, and Shanghai ZM International Exhibition Co., Ltd., organizer of EPTEE + CWS, Show for Water, Air, Waste, Energy and Recycling, are planning a joint event in 2010 – IFAT CHINA + EPTEE + CWS. As part of this cooperation, there are also new joint dates, with IFAT CHINA being moved just one day: IFAT CHINA + EPTEE + CWS will take place from 5 to 7 May 2010 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC).
 
IFAT CHINA, International Trade Fair for Water, Sewage, Refuse, Recycling and Natural Energy Sources, attracted 362 exhibitors and over 10,500 visitors for the last event in 2008. The proportion of exhibitors from outside China was again very high, at over 50 percent. In 2009 EPTEE + CWS, Show for Water, Air, Waste, Energy and Recycling, a strong national trade fair, hosted a total of 756 exhibitors and over 32,000 visitors. As such, these two events complement each other very well, both in terms of exhibitor and visitor profiles.