Patent Inventions in Climate Change Mitigation Technologies

1. Introduction 

Climate change mitigation technologies (CCMTs) are critical in the fight against global warming. These technologies aim to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, enhance carbon sequestration, and promote sustainable energy use. Climate change mitigation technology (CCMT) is a rapidly growing sector aligned with Canada’s government priorities. With significant research and carbon pricing investments, Canada’s clean energy sector has expanded dramatically, boasting 20 times more wind and 125 times more solar than a decade ago. The 2017 report by Analytica Advisors identified over 850 Canadian firms in the clean technology sector, which has seen substantial employment growth and generated $13.3 billion in revenue in 2015. To meet ambitious climate goals, Canada emphasizes adopting existing energy-saving technologies and developing innovations supported by initiatives like the Pan-Canadian Framework and Mission Innovation. This report examines patent activity in CCMT, highlighting Canadian strengths and areas for global advantage, focusing on sectors such as Renewable Energy, Smart Grids, Carbon Capture, etc. 

Climate change is a crucial priority for the Government of Canada, which has set strict targets requiring the adoption of energy-saving technologies and breakthrough innovations. Patent data provides valuable insights into technological development. This report uses specific classification codes to analyze patenting activity by Canadian inventors and global businesses in Climate Change Mitigation Technologies (CCMT). This report explores patented inventions in CCMTs, focusing on innovations in Canada and globally. It covers critical technologies, market trends, intellectual property, patents, technology domains, classifications, and significant players. It highlights areas of Canadian expertise and potential global advantages. While Canadian researchers excel in most CCMT categories, businesses specialize mainly in Carbon Capture. However, they also patent extensively in Transport despite needing a technological edge. Both sectors show relative specialization in Hydro Energy, Non-Fossil Fuel Production, Nuclear Energy, and Carbon Capture. Increased innovation could expand Canadian access to foreign markets. Continuous monitoring of Canadian inventive activity is essential for achieving national climate objectives, as outlined in collaboration with Environment and Climate Change Canada and Natural Resources Canada. 

1.1 Categories of CCMT

CCMT (Climate Change Mitigation Technologies) for transportation aims to reduce CO2 emissions, with electric vehicles being a typical example. Renewable Energy includes hydro, wind, solar, and geothermal energy. Emissions can be reduced in buildings with better lighting, heating, ventilation, elevators, escalators, and overall thermal performance. Traditional Energy improvements focus on making fossil fuels more efficient and using alternatives like nuclear energy. 

Clean Energy Enablers are technologies that help manage energy and reduce greenhouse gases, such as batteries, which are cleaner alternatives to more polluting energy sources. Smart Grids use digital communication to improve electrical supply networks, helping consumers manage their energy use more efficiently and reducing the risk of power outages. 

Finally, Carbon Capture technologies aim to trap waste CO2 and other greenhouse gases, storing them in deep underground rock formations. 

1.2 Key Technologies in Climate Change Mitigation 

1. Renewable Energy Technologies 

• Solar Photovoltaics (PV) related inventions in high-efficiency solar cells, perovskite technology, and bifacial panels. 

• Wind Energy: Advanced turbine designs, offshore wind technology, and energy storage integration. 

• Hydropower: Innovations in micro-hydropower systems and kinetic turbines. 

2. Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) 

• Direct Air Capture (DAC): Technologies for capturing CO2 directly from the atmosphere. 

• Carbon Utilization: Conversion of captured CO2 into valuable products like fuels, chemicals, and building materials. 

• Storage Solutions: Geological storage innovations and mineralization processes. 

3. Energy Efficiency Technologies 

• Smart Grids: Enhanced grid management through AI and IoT for optimized energy distribution. 

• Building Technologies: Advanced insulation materials, energy-efficient HVAC systems, and intelligent building management systems. 

4. Sustainable Transportation 

• Electric Vehicles (EVs): Innovations in battery technology, charging infrastructure, and energy management systems. 

• Hydrogen Fuel Cells: Developments in fuel cell efficiency and hydrogen production methods. 

5. Agriculture and Land Use 

• Precision Farming: Technologies for optimizing water and fertilizer use and reducing emissions from agriculture. 

• Agroforestry: Patents in carbon sequestration through integrated tree and crop systems. 

2. Global Market Overview 

The global climate change mitigation technologies market is experiencing rapid growth, driven by increasing governmental and private sector commitments to reduce carbon emissions. According to recent market research: 

• The Global Climate Change Mitigation Solutions market size was valued at USD 1.7 trillion in 2023 and is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.2% during the forecast period, reaching a value of USD 3.2 trillion by 2030 (Exploring Growth in the Climate Change Mitigation Solutions Market Innovative Technologies | LinkedIn, 2024). 

• Regarding regional insights, North America and Europe are leading market adoption due to supportive regulations and substantial investments. Asia-Pacific is emerging as a significant market, driven by rapid industrialization and urbanization. 

• Government policies, technological advancements, and increased awareness of climate change impacts. 

• Some regions have high initial investment costs, technological feasibility, and regulatory hurdles. 

2.1 Mergers & Acquisitions 

• January 2023: Siemens acquired Renewable Energy Systems Americas, a solar and energy storage company, for $1.6 billion. 

• March 2023: Engie acquired Centrica Business Solutions, an energy efficiency company, for $2.3 billion. 

• May 2023: Orsted acquired Eversource Energy’s offshore wind business, for $7.4 billion. 

• July 2023: Brookfield Renewable Partners acquired TerraForm Power, a renewable energy company, for $15.7 billion. 

• September 2023: Iberdrola acquired ScottishPower, an energy company, for $13.8 billion. 

2.2 Product Launches 

• January 2023: Siemens launched the Green Xpert, a software platform for managing energy consumption. 

• March 2023: Engie launched the My Engie app, a mobile app for managing energy use. 

• May 2023: Orsted launched the Nearshore Wind Optimizer, a software tool for optimizing the deployment of offshore wind farms. 

• July 2023: Brookfield Renewable Partners launched the Clean Power Hub, a platform for trading renewable energy certificates. 

• September 2023: Iberdrola launched the Smart Grid, a network of sensors and control systems for managing electricity distribution. 

2.3 Global Key Market Players 

• Tesla, Inc. 

• Siemens AG 

• First Solar, Inc. 

• Vestas Wind Systems A/S 

• General Electric Company 

• Johnson Controls International plc 

• Schneider Electric SE 

• Enphase Energy, Inc. 

• Orsted A/S 

• SunPower Corporation 

• Bloom Energy Corporation 

• Dominion Energy, Inc. 

• Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. 

• NRG Energy, Inc. 

• NextEra Energy, Inc. 

• E.ON SE 

• Ørsted A/S 

• ABB Group 

• Canadian Solar Inc. 

• LG Chem Ltd. 

• Trina Solar Limited 

• TotalEnergies SE 

• Sunrun Inc. 

• Xcel Energy Inc. 

• ENGIE SA 

3. Patent Landscape of CCMT technologies 

The figure is a patent landscape map visually representing CCMT patent applications filed globally, featuring at least one Canadian inventor. This map is created using an algorithm that clusters patents based on shared keywords from their documentation. Canadian researchers grouped the patents into “contours” to show high and low patenting activity areas. The “snow-capped peaks” on the map indicate the highest concentrations of patented inventions, each labelled with crucial terms that summarize the common themes. The closer the peaks are to each other, the more similarities the patents they represent share. It’s important to note that the map shows absolute counts of patented inventions without considering that many other countries also excel in these areas. Additionally, the count of patent families in the regions highlighted for each category may not precisely match the total number of CCMT patent families. This is because some categories have more scattered patent families than others. Moreover, calculating the total number of patent families based on these counts will yield a number greater than the total in the dataset, as some patent families are assigned multiple classification codes and thus counted more than once. 

Figure: CCMT Landscape Map of Patent Families Linked to Canadian Researchers  

(Source: Office, C. I. P. (2021, August 6). Patented inventions in climate change mitigation technologies.https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadian-intellectual-property-office/en/patented-inventions-climate-change-mitigation-technologies) 

Canadian researchers are active in Buildings, Clean Energy Enablers, Renewable Energy, Transport, and Traditional Energy, and to a lesser extent in Smart Grids and Carbon Capture. Interestingly, areas with fewer patents might still show a technological advantage. To understand Canadian strengths in CCMT research, we use the Revealed Technological Advantage (RTA) index, which is detailed in our Methodology section. First, we compare the RTA indices of Canadian researchers with those of other countries to determine Canada’s overall ranking. Then, we break down the index to focus on specific areas of specialization. Figure 4 reveals that Canadian researchers specialize in CCMT technologies related to Smart Grids, Buildings, Traditional Energy, Clean Energy Enablers, Carbon Capture and Renewable Energy. The Revealed Technological Advantage (RTA) index, developed by the OECD (Revealed Technology Advantage in Selected Fields, n.d.), uses patenting intensity to allow for industries to be compared between countries of different sizes on a relative basis. The index is calculated as a correction for the absolute numbers of HVI patent families to account for the fact that some countries file more patent applications than others in all technology fields. This report uses the RTA index to determine where Canadians have a comparative advantage over competitors. An RTA greater than one suggests the economy has a relative specialization in a particular field, while an RTA lower than one indicates the opposite. An RTA equal to one is indicative that an economy’s share of patents in that specific field equals its share in all fields and, therefore, is not specialized. 

Source : (Office, 2021) 

Figure below compares Canada’s RTA index for CCMT with that of G7 countries and other leading nations like China, Korea, Australia, and Denmark. Canada shows a relative advantage over countries like Japan, China, the UK, the US, and Australia. These findings align with the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017, where Canada ranked 6th globally in the availability of scientists and engineers.

Source : (Office, 2021) 

4. Intellectual Property in Climate Change Mitigation 

Intellectual property (IP) is crucial in developing and commercializing climate change mitigation technologies. Patents are a primary form of IP protection, encouraging innovation by granting inventors exclusive rights to their inventions. 

4.1 Patent Classifications and Domains 

      International Patent Classification (IPC): 

• Y02: Technologies or applications for mitigation or adaptation against climate change. 

• Y02B: Indexing scheme relating to climate change mitigation technologies related to buildings, e.g. including housing and appliances or related end-user applications. 

• Y02C: Capture, storage, sequestration or disposal of greenhouse gases [GHG] 

• Y02E10: Energy generation through renewable energy sources 

• Y02T: Climate change mitigation technologies related to transportation 

• C01B: Non-metallic elements; compounds thereof (for carbon capture). 

• H02J: Circuit arrangements or systems for supplying or distributing electric power (for smart grids). 

• Y04S: Systems integrates technologies related to power network operation, communication, or information technologies to improve electrical power generation, transmission, distribution, management, and usage, i.e., smart grids. 

Source : Questel Orbit 2024 

 4.2 Patent Trends by Orbit Questel Technologies 

Analysis of Patent Filing Trends: After analysing more than 20k patents on the orbit database, there has been a significant increase in patent filings related to CCMTs, focusing on renewable energy, carbon capture, and energy efficiency in the United States, China, Germany, and Japan are the top countries in terms of patent filings in this domain. 

Key Players: This graph presents the top applicants by topic volume studied. This represents the applicants with the most significant number of patents in their portfolios in the climate mitigation field. 

Source : Questel Orbit 2024 

4.3 Investment Trend 

The investment trends shows different profiles depending on the filing strategy implemented by the applicant. Thus, a growing portfolio (linear or exponential) indicates that the applicant is in the phase of construction of his portfolio (more or less rapidly). When a stabilization of the number of filings is observed, it can be explained by: 

• a stabilization of R&D budgets leads to a flow of patent applications that is more or less constant without too much selectivity in applying for patents. 

• a desire to stabilize patent costs, which leads to a significant selectivity in the filings and their maintenance. 

A decline in the number of patents filed is generally symptomatic of a substantial decrease in R&D or intellectual property budgets. Different types of profiles can be observed. Thus, a sector with linear growth shows actors’ continued interest in the field without needing to construct massive portfolios. Conversely, an industry with exponential growth indicates a race for a patent. When the number of applications filed decreases, it means the disengagement of the actors in the field, while a stable profile is a sign of sector maturity. It is also possible to distinguish peaks or troughs in the number of applications filed, depending on R&D budgets or broader economic or strategic changes.  

Note: There will always be a gap in current patent information due to the 18-month delay between filing an application and its publication.

Source : Questel Orbit 2024 

4.4 Marketing and Competitors Analysis 

The analysis illustrates the number of live patents protected in the various national Offices. The graph includes extension countries for EP documents and demonstrates the applicant’s protection strategy, thus helping identify target markets. This graph provides information on the patent strategies of the actors in the sector studied, as the national filings are a good indicator of the markets that need to be protected. 

Some players protect the geographical areas where the manufacturing sites of their competitors are located. The data in this graph are at the patent level. 

 Source : Questel Orbit 2024

Source : Questel Orbit 2024 

4.5 Major Market Players  

• Siemens AG (Germany): A leader in innovative grid technologies and energy efficiency solutions. 

• Carbon Engineering Ltd. (Canada): Specializes in direct air capture technology. 

• Vestas Wind Systems A/S (Denmark): A major player in wind turbine manufacturing. 

• Tesla, Inc. (USA): Known for its electric vehicles and renewable energy products. 

4.6 Canadian startups tackling the climate crisis 

• Terrestrial Energy (Oakville, Ontario): A nuclear energy company developing advanced reactors, focusing on the Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) design. 

• General Fusion (Burnaby, British Columbia): A company advancing nuclear fusion technology with plans for a net energy positive reactor by 2025. 

• Carbon Engineering (Squamish, British Columbia): A pioneer in carbon capture technology, developing commercial plants to capture CO2 at economically viable costs. 

• C2CNT (Calgary, Alberta): A startup converting captured CO2 into high-value carbon nanotubes using molten carbonate electrolysis. 

• CarbonCure (Halifax, Nova Scotia): Innovates in curing concrete with captured CO2, making the process more resource-efficient and creating stronger products. 

• CleanO2 (Calgary, Alberta): Develops CARBiNX devices to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in buildings, and produces soaps with CO2. 

• Svante (Burnaby, British Columbia): Markets carbon capture technology that can be integrated into existing infrastructures to reduce emissions and potentially upscale CO2. 

• Opus One Solutions (Toronto): Produces an advanced grid operating platform for managing decentralized energy resources and enabling intelligent energy automation. 

• Terramera (Vancouver, British Columbia): Develops natural ingredient-based pesticides to reduce crop pests and agricultural emissions. 

 Canada has been at the forefront of developing and implementing climate change mitigation technologies. The Canadian government has introduced policies supporting clean technology innovation, such as the Clean Growth Program (Canada, 2023) and Net-Zero Accelerator Fund (Canada, 2023). 

5. Decline in Global Patent Applications for Climate Change Mitigation Technologies 

According to the IEA and OECD, global patent applications for climate change mitigation technologies have decreased significantly since 2011-2012. Previously, innovations in sectors such as power generation, transport, buildings, and carbon capture were rising rapidly. However, this trend has reversed, contrasting with steady patenting activity in health technologies and ICT fields. The decline may be partly due to the maturity of specific technologies, leading to less new patenting. Notably, areas like advanced energy storage and fuel cells have maintained innovation levels driven by regulatory discussions and integration with digital technologies. Despite the overall decline, digitalization in energy and rising international research collaborations, especially between OECD countries and emerging economies, present positive developments. Addressing climate change effectively will require continued and expanded collaborative efforts across borders and technologies.

Source : (Global Patent Applications for Climate Change Mitigation Technologies – a Key Measure of Innovation – Are Trending Down – Analysis – IEA, 2019) 

Since 2011-2012, there has been a notable decline in patents for climate change mitigation technologies, unlike fields such as health technologies, ICT, and pollution abatement, which have not experienced similar decreases. This decline is partly attributed to the maturity of existing technologies. However, innovation continues in areas like ICT integration, energy storage, and fuel cells, with digital technologies playing a significant role, particularly in energy and buildings, where nearly 40% of patents are digital-related. Increased international collaboration remains crucial, especially between OECD countries and emerging economies like the US, China, and India. Despite this, the decline in patents raises concerns about future cost reductions in clean energy technologies, highlighting the need for continued global collaboration to address climate change effectively.

Source : Questel Orbit 2024 

6. Conclusion

Patented inventions in climate change mitigation technologies are essential for addressing global warming. The advancements in renewable energy, carbon capture, energy efficiency, and sustainable transportation highlight the significant progress. The combination of strong IP protection, supportive policies, and market demand drives innovation in this field. As the market grows, collaboration among governments, corporations, and startups will be crucial for achieving global climate goals. 

References 

• Canada, N. R. (2023, September 7). Clean Growth Program. https://natural-resources.canada.ca/climate-change/canadas-green-future/clean-growth-programs/20254 

• Global patent applications for climate change mitigation technologies – a key measure of innovation – are trending down – Analysis – IEA. (2019, July 11). IEA. https://www.iea.org/commentaries/global-patent-applications-for-climate-change-mitigation-technologies-a-key-measure-of-innovation-are-trending-down 

• Office, C. I. P. (2021, August 6). Patented inventions in climate change mitigation technologies. https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadian-intellectual-property-office/en/patented-inventions-climate-change-mitigation-technologies#toc-5 

• Exploring growth in the climate change Mitigation Solutions Market Innovative Technologies | LinkedIn. (2024, March 18). https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/exploring-growth-climate-change-mitigation-solutions-p75jf/