Page 4 - AsiaElec Week 17 2021

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

Patent data highlights need

to increase the sluggish

pace of green innovation

The number of new patents needs to continue increasing every

year if new technology is to drive the world’s movement towards

net zero, writes Richard Lockhart

GLOBAL THE number of new high-value patents for new The current growth rate of for patents in
low-carbon energy (LCE) technologies surged LCE (3.3% since 2017) remains slower than that
WHAT: between 2017 and 2019 after a slump in the mid- before 2013 (12.5% average growth of the period
Growth in low-carbon dle of the decade. 2000-2013) and an acceleration of activity would
energy patents has New research from the International Energy be needed to make up for the lost years.
recovered since 2017 Agency (IEA) and the European Patent Office By contrast, patenting in fossil fuels has been
(EPO) showed that patents related to low-carbon declining since 2015.
WHY: energy technologies grew by an average of 3.3%
Low carbon-patenting per year in the 2017-19 period. Massive leap
slumped in the middle of Patents are a key metric of the state of inno- Recent IEA analysis shows that current climate
the 2010s vation and investment in renewable energy. The targets can only be achieved by a major acceler-
report warned that much faster innovation pro- ation in clean energy innovation, as many of the
WHAT NEXT: gress will be essential to successfully accelerate technologies required in the coming decades to
New innovations are the transition to clean energy. bring down CO2 emissions are only at the pro-
needed to drive 50% of The research detailed that apart from a slump totype or demonstration phase today.
emissions reductions between 2014 and 2016, the number of global “Around half the emissions reductions to get
by 2050, growth in patents in low-carbon energy technologies has to net zero by 2050 may need to come from tech-
patents will remain a been rising over the past two decades, particu- nologies that are not yet on the market,” said IEA
key indicator of green larly those related to electric transportation, Executive Director Fatih Birol.
progress according to the joint report.

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 17 28•April•2021