Patents and Clean Energy: Bridging the Gap between Evidence and Policy

Climate change is the most pressing challenge of our time. Addressing it requires an unprecedented mobilisation of human and financial resources to alter our patterns of production, consumption and energy use.This report includes the findings from a comprehensive mapping of clean energy technologies, an in-depth analysis of the patent landscape for these technologies and a survey of licensing activities in this field. A ground-breaking outcome of the project has also been the creation by the EPO of a new patent classification scheme and a searchable database.The report concludes by pointing to the continuing need to further develop empirical analysis in order to better understand the impact of the patent system on the development and transfer of climate change technologies. Ultimately, we hope that this partnership and its focus on generating knowledge and data will contribute to a more informed policy debate, and thereby to global efforts to address climate change.