China dominates global green patent applications

China’s contributions to global sustainable development are evident in the significant growth of its patents. According to a recent report by the country’s top intellectual property regulator, China ranked first in 2023 for the number of published green and low-carbon patent applications. This marked a year-on-year increase of 20 percent, accounting for over half of the global total.

This increase was 7.1 percentage points higher than the global average, as highlighted by the China National Intellectual Property Administration in the Report on Statistical Analysis of Green and Low-Carbon Patents.

The report defines green and low-carbon patents as those focused on technologies that promote green development. These include five key areas: carbon reduction of fossil energy, energy saving and recycling, clean energy, energy storage, and greenhouse gas capture, utilization, and storage.

In the field of energy storage, China achieved 37,000 patent applications in 2023, making up 48 percent of the global total. Also, for clean energy, China’s number of invention patent applications for solar and hydrogen energy was the highest globally, with 8,000 and 5,000 applications respectively.

Additionally, China’s applications for green and low-carbon technologies through the Patent Cooperation Treaty, an international patent protection system, exceeded 5,000 in 2023, securing the top global position for the third consecutive year.

Since 2019, China has been the world’s leading filer of patent applications, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization.