The race to net zero: Tracking the green industrial revolution through IP
Published 26 February 2024
© Crown copyright 2024
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-race-to-net-zero-tracking-the-green-industrial-revolution-through-ip/the-race-to-net-zero-tracking-the-green-industrial-revolution-through-ip
Executive Summary
The UK became the first major economy to set a legally binding target to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and further global innovation is required if these targets are going to be met. Some commentators suggest that 50% of the carbon reductions needed to get to net zero will come from technologies that have not yet been invented. [footnote 1], [footnote 2] This study tracks the green industrial revolution through intellectual property (IP). Analysis and insights from IP data can help provide a better understanding of how the IP system is being used and where and what innovation is taking place, thereby providing a sound evidence base for policymaking.
This study looks at both patents and trade marks which relate to green technology, with the aim of providing insight into the patent and trade mark landscape in this sector. Due to data constraints this report does not look at the IP landscape of green technology in terms of designs, copyright nor trade secrets. The research builds on a series of reports previously published by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), which looked at specific technologies within the UK government’s ten-point plan for a green industrial revolution.
Of the different green technologies within the ten-point plan, greener vehicle technologies have seen the largest absolute increase in patenting activity over the past 20 years, whilst greener buildings have seen the highest average percentage growth in this period. When considering the relative technology specialisms of the top patenting countries worldwide, the UK shows relative strength in the patenting of offshore wind power, greener buildings and advanced nuclear power technology.
The trends and relationships seen in the global patent landscape of green technologies has been analysed, and a subset of patenting in green technologies in the the UK investigated. Globally, growth in green technologies has been consistently higher than both brown technology (fossil-fuels) and total growth across all technologies, seeing nearly 400% growth between 2000 and 2020. By looking at companies with a large share of their total patent portfolio in the green technology space, ‘green specialists’ in the UK have been identified. These green specialists include companies such as Intelligent Energy, a fuel cell engineering company founded in 2001 and based in Loughborough, and Tokamak Energy, a fusion power research company founded in 2009 and based in Oxford.
In 2009 the UK was one of the first IP offices in the world to introduce a free accelerated patent processing route, known as the Green Channel, for inventions with an environmental benefit. Analysis conducted as part of this study shows how this policy initiative is being used, finding that since its introduction over 4000 patent applications have been accelerated for free via the Green Channel and its use is increasing year-on-year. The proportion of eligible inventions using the Green Channel has been increasing, and between 2015 and 2021 an average of 3.3% of green tech patent families filed in the UK made use of the Green Channel.
Patenting trends relating to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are also analysed. A SDG patent mapping methodology has been applied to the green technology dataset and finds that the majority of green technology patents fall within SDG09 (industry, innovation and infrastructure) and SDG13 (climate action). SDG07 (affordable and clean energy) and SDG12 (responsible consumption and production) are also well represented.
This research investigates trends in green trade marks, and how these are distributed across different product groups, categories, countries and companies. Nearly 6% of trade mark applications over the past 20 years have been identified as being green, with the number of green trade marks increasing exponentially since 2015. Analysis of specific product groups reveals that most filings for green trade marks related to energy conservation (26% of all green trade marks), followed by electricity storage (18%).
The analysis conducted as part of this research shows the current patent and trade mark landscapes relating to green technologies. It is clear that the world will have to continue to innovate if the proposed net zero targets are going to be met, and this study is designed to provide a baseline for how the analysis of IP rights can help track the green industrial revolution both now and going forwards.