Climate Change Patents

Global Patent Activity for Climate Change Related Patents

The Cooperative Patent Class (CPC) Scheme includes a class specifically dedicated to climate change inventions.  This CPC patent class is Y/02. The earliest patents granted with the CPC class Y/02 are in 2013. The two charts below show there is little difference between overall patenting activity and patenting in the CPC class Y/02 with an almost identical group of countries and rate of activity in the top 12 for each set of data.

See WIPO ST.3 to translate two-letter country codes.

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Transportation and Greenhouse Gas Capture Leads the Way

Breaking down the overall climate change patenting activity in to sub-categories shows that transportation and reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) are leading the way with the most patenting activity. Furthermore, a breakdown of climate change patents by transportation sub-classes shows that the road transportation category has more than 3 times the number of patents granted compared to air transportation, while marine and rail transportation have very little activity.

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