China key driver of creativity in environmental technology field

China has seen rapid growth of green and low-carbon patents over the past few years, becoming an important driver of global innovation in this regard, the country's top intellectual property regulator said.

A report published by the China National Intellectual Property Administration in May last year showed that from 2016 to 2022, 558,000 green and low-carbon patents were authorized across the world. Of these, 206,000 were approved by China, accounting for 36.8 percent of the global total.

The number of such patents granted in China increased by 9.3 percent on average each year during the period, but declined in other countries and regions, which means China has contributed a lot to global creativity in the environmental technology field, the report said.

It revealed that Chinese applicants for green and low-carbon patents were mainly from Beijing, Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces, and most of those patents were sought by large State-owned enterprises and academies based in the three areas.

Of all the green and low-carbon patents authorized in the world between 2016 and 2022, most focused on energy conservation and recovery. Others dealt with energy storage, clean energy, greenhouse gas utilization and fossil energy carbon reduction technology, it added.

Shen Changyu, head of the administration, said last month that China's innovation capability in emerging businesses and technological industries, especially the green and low-carbon industry, has been continuously enhanced.

He said the administration would strictly abide by the revised Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law so it could take stronger measures to help innovators in those fields apply for patents.

Data released in the report showed that the number of valid patents involving the green and low-carbon sector in China had reached 218,000 by the end of 2022, making up 5.2 percent of the nation's invention patents.

The report noted that there is much room for improvement in China's innovation and technological vitality in the sector.

Lauding China's major contribution to green and low-carbon technological innovation worldwide, Ge Shu, head of the administration's Strategic Planning Department, said in July that it will improve classifications and statistical analyses for patents, actively market them and encourage applications in the sector to better serve green development.

However, he also pointed out that the overseas expansion of China's green and low-carbon patents is still weak, and there is a gap with the United States, Japan and European nations.

He said that from 2016 to 2021, about 15,000 green and low-carbon patents from Chinese entities were authorized overseas, fewer than those from European countries (70,000), Japan (48,000), the US (45,000) and South Korea (17,000).

"Therefore, we'll continue building a sound statistical and monitoring system for such patents," he said.

The protection of the patents in the sector will be further strengthened, and investments contributing to innovations in this field will also be encouraged, he added.