Patents as a Driver of Innovation and Green Technology
The patent system plays a vital role in stimulating innovation and technological progress. At its core, a patent is a legal title granting the inventor an exclusive right to use and commercialize a technological invention for a limited time. In return, the inventor must fully disclose the invention, its design, manufacturing process, and intended use, which ensures that the knowledge eventually enters the public domain once the patent expires.
As Abraham Lincoln famously put it:
“The patent system added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius.”
Patents can foster innovation across sectors in view of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) objectives by encouraging the development of sustainable technologies.
At the European Patent Office (EPO) and other global IP offices, patent applications are classified by technical subject matter. Applications related to environmentally beneficial technologies, such as renewable energy, pollution reduction, or waste management are often referred to as Green Patents.
Creating a strong, supportive legal framework for Green Patents can significantly boost research, development, and investment in sustainable technologies. The patent system functions as a social contract: inventors receive exclusive rights in exchange for sharing valuable technical knowledge with society. This dual mechanism not only incentivizes innovation but also enables others to build on disclosed inventions, thereby accelerating the pace of green innovation.
Green Patents and the European Framework
Promoting environmentally friendly innovation has become a central priority in both national and international environmental policy, particularly in light of the growing urgency of the climate crisis. As previously discussed, the patent system serves as a crucial regulatory tool to stimulate technological innovation. In this context, several national intellectual property offices have introduced fast-track procedures for so-called Green Patents, or in other words, patent applications related to environmentally beneficial technologies.
The purpose of a Green Patent fast-track system is to provide a more efficient examination process for environmentally focused innovations compared to the traditional patent route. These procedures offer accelerated timelines through examination prioritization, simplified processing, and reduced examination duration. As a result, green innovations can reach the market more quickly, while the exclusive rights granted by patents are still maintained over the standard term allowing the full capitalization of both the economic and environmental benefits.
The United Kingdom pioneered the first Green Patent fast-track program in 2009. That same year, similar initiatives were launched by Australia, Israel, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United States. In subsequent years, Canada, Brazil, and China also introduced their own versions of fast-track systems aimed at accelerating green innovation.
Despite the clear advantages such programs offer, particularly for technologies aligned with ESG values, it is questionable whether the European Union, the European Patent Office (EPO), or the Unified Patent Court (UPC) have developed any comparable strategy to actively promote Green Patents.
The European Union's
The European Union has taken major steps toward environmental sustainability through initiatives such as the European Green Deal (2019) and the legally binding European Climate Law (2021), which aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The European Commission has also launched an Intellectual Property Action Plan (2020) that highlights the importance of innovation in facilitating the green transition.
However, despite these overarching ambitions, there are no patent-specific incentives or measures designed to support green innovation. The current EU policy framework recognizes the role of technological innovation in achieving environmental goals, yet fails to translate this recognition into concrete actions within the patent system.
The European Patent Office
In response to the urgent global threat of climate change, the European Patent Office (EPO) has recognized the critical role of innovation in developing sustainable solutions. Many technologies that contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, such as energy-efficient turbine designs inspired by nature, advanced gas storage methods, and water-saving appliances, stem from patents granted by the EPO. To support this innovation, patents not only encourage investment in sustainable technologies but also provide essential technical information that enables researchers and inventors to build on existing knowledge.
The EPO has introduced the "Y02" classification system. The inventions under the Y02 classes relate to selected technologies, which control, reduce or prevent anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases, in the framework of the Kyoto Protocol (1998) and the Paris Agreement (2015), and also technologies which allow adapting to the adverse effects of climate change. The use of such specific classification system allows users to track developments in green innovation worldwide via the Espacenet database.
The EPO's current strategy appears to emphasize the dissemination of patent information and access to environmental technology data as a means of promoting innovation indirectly. While this approach contributes to general awareness and transparency, it does not involve specific mechanisms such as for example fast-track procedures to directly incentivize or prioritize Green Patent applications.
However, the EPO has a PACE program (accelerated prosecution procedure) as a general mechanism to accelerate the search and/or examination procedure. The request can be made at any time after filing the application. The EPO will accept the request only where “practically feasible and subject to the workload of search and examining divisions”. In practice, mainly incomplete applications, unclear claims and unpaid fees will prevent access to PACE.
When the request is granted, the examining division will aim to issue a search report within six months. For examination, the EPO aims to produce an examination report within three months. Note that such a request can be filed only once during each stage. Therefore, while no fast-track procedure is put in place specifically for Green Patents, procedures can generally unfold faster when granted PACE.
The Unified Patent Court Agreement
The UPC presents itself as an efficient and centralized forum for enforcing patent rights across Europe. Nevertheless, its procedural rules apply equally to all technologies. There are no special provisions or incentives for Green Patents within the UPC framework.
Despite the EU’s strong commitment to climate goals and both the EPO’s and UPC’s broader efforts to support innovation, Europe lacks a dedicated policy framework to encourage and accelerate the development of environmentally sustainable technologies through the patent system.
The Research Exemption: An Alternative Pathway to Green Innovation
In the absence of a formal Green Patent strategy within Europe, the research exemption, recognized in multiple national patent laws across Europe and included in the UPC Agreement offers a potentially valuable legal tool to support sustainability oriented innovation.
Article 27(b) of the UPC Agreement states:
“The rights conferred by a patent shall not extend to any of the following: […] (b) acts done for experimental purposes relating to the subject matter of the patented invention.”
This provision reflects a fundamental principle of patent law: a patent should incentivize innovation without granting overly broad rights that hinder further scientific progress and innovation. The research exemption ensures that patent holders cannot block activities that do not compromise the core value of their exclusive rights namely, the acts undertaken purely for research or experimental purposes.
The research exemption allows researchers and developers to use patented technologies without prior authorization for experimental purposes, facilitating testing and validation of patented technologies and the development of improvements or alternative applications.
In the context of ESG aligned technologies, such as renewable energy systems, pollution reduction tools, or energy storage solutions, this carve-out could help lower the legal barriers to experimentation, particularly when no targeted Green Patent policy exists.
Despite its potential, the research exemption is not always a reliable safeguard for innovators. Moreover, its interpretation and application vary across jurisdictions, particularly regarding the boundary between non-commercial research and commercial development. Furthermore, when experimental activities have a commercial dimension, the legal protection offered by the exemption can become unclear or even unavailable. Companies and practitioners may therefore face legal uncertainty when relying on the exemption, especially in high-stakes commercial environments.
The research exemption could form a useful legal mechanism to support environmentally driven innovation. By enabling research and development around patented technologies, it can serve as a stepping stone towards achieving broader ESG goals provided that greater clarity and harmonization in its interpretation are achieved across the Europe.
Conclusion
Patents continue to be a fundamental mechanism to stimulate innovation, embodying Abraham Lincoln’s vision of fueling genius with the fire of interest. Yet, Europe’s patent system has not yet fully adapted to the pressing imperatives of environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and good governance.
The lack of a dedicated Green Patent strategy within Europe represents a gap that, if addressed, could significantly enhance the development and deployment of sustainable technologies. Meanwhile, the research exemption offers a promising, though underdeveloped and underutilized, pathway to accelerate green innovation by facilitating open experimentation on patented inventions.
