Clean Energy Patents: More Transparency Needed | Renewable Energy World Magazine ArticleIt is accepted that clean energy technology development will be pivotal in mitigating climate change and that transferring this technology to developing economies will be equally important in making these economies more socially responsible while supporting economic growth.
Last year's UN Copenhagen climate summit may have been considered a failure in terms of absolute emission reduction agreements, but it did call for the establishment of a mechanism to accelerate technology development and transfer and this process will have to be further developed in Cancun, Mexico, in UNFCCC meetings in December, due as REW goes to press.
But for all the perceived value in developing and transferring clean energy technologies (CETs) there has been little empirical data on the relationship between technology development and transfer, that is until now.
A new study: 'Patents and clean energy: bridging the gap between evidence and policy' sets out to provide facts where previously there has been little data.
The empirical study, jointly undertaken by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the European Patent Office (EPO) and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), assessed the role of patents in the transfer of CETs and concludes that: policy processes and signals do matter; accurate and publicly available information is urgently needed on existing and emerging CETs; and, options to facilitate licensing of CETs to developing countries should be considered.
Commenting on the study, EPO president, Benoît Battistelli, said: 'The joint study is both exemplary and ground-breaking in its cross-sector collaboration to deliver results that have a direct benefit to society. Patents play a key role in providing information about existing technologies, the level of their development and geographic spread. This information facilitates an informed debate on climate change.'
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary and executive director of UNEP, said: 'Far from being a drag on economies and innovation, international efforts to combat climate change have sparked technological creativity on low carbon, resource efficient green economy solutions. The challenge now is to find ways in which these advances can be diffused, spread and transferred everywhere so that the benefits to both economies and the climate are shared by the many rather than the few.'
And ICTSD chief executive Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz added: 'A massive scale-up of use and diffusion of Clean Energy Technologies globally, and in particular to developing countries, is imperative for effective climate change mitigation and adaptation. This study provides evidence and key insights towards a better understanding of the challenges facing this objective.'
The project comprised three parts: a technology-mapping study of key CETs, a survey of licensing practices, and a patent landscape based on the identified CETs.
For the purposes of the study CETs are defined as energy generation technologies with the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the study, patenting rates (i.e. patent applications and granted patents) in the selected CETs have increased at roughly 20% annually since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 with patenting in CETs outpacing 'traditional' energy technologies. The report argues that the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol 'provides a strong signal that political decisions setting adequate frameworks are important for stimulating the development of CETs,' and notes that the most intensive patent growth has been seen in solar photovoltaic, wind, carbon capture, hydro/marine and biofuels.
Not surprisingly the study found that patenting in the selected CET fields is dominated by OECD countries, although it notes that a number of emerging economies are showing specialisation in individual sectors and are thus providing further competition to the OECD dominance and potentially, it says, changing the future of the CET patent landscape.
