GREEN PATENTS AND CLIMATE TECHNOLOGY: BALANCING INNOVATION, ACCESS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Climate change has transformed the relationship between technological innovation and public policy. The transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy depends not only on environmental regulation and public finance, but also on the creation, protection, transfer and deployment of new technologies. Solar photovoltaic systems, advanced batteries, electric mobility, green hydrogen, carbon capture, smart grids, low-emission industrial processes and climate-resilient agricultural technologies are examples of innovations that can reduce emissions or strengthen adaptation. Intellectual property, particularly patents, is therefore an important part of the climate-technology ecosystem. A patent gives an inventor a time-limited legal right to prevent specified acts concerning an invention in exchange for public disclosure of the invention. In the climate context, this bargain has a distinctive significance. Disclosure can enrich the technological knowledge base, while exclusivity can help innovators recover research and development costs and attract investment. At the same time, climate technologies generate a public interest that extends beyond the commercial interests of individual right holders. If a technology capable of reducing emissions or protecting communities from climate impacts remains inaccessible because of cost, licensing restrictions, inadequate infrastructure or lack of technical capacity, the social value of the innovation may not be fully realised. Recent patent evidence shows the scale of the technological transformation. WIPO's 2026 analysis reports that global green-technology patent families increased from approximately 111,400 in 2003 to 412,300 in 2023, while their share of global patenting rose from 13.7% to 18.2%. The leading areas include smart energy, grids and transmission, battery storage, and air-pollution control. These figures indicate substantial inventive activity, but patenting itself does not establish whether a technology is affordable, commercially viable, or actually deployed at the scale required for climate action. The central legal and policy question is consequently not whether patents are good or bad for climate technology. It is how the patent system can preserve incentives for risky and expensive innovation while preventing intellectual property from becoming an unnecessary barrier to diffusion. This article examines that balance through the international framework and the Indian patent regime, and considers how green patents can contribute to climate objectives while remaining connected to access, technology transfer and sustainable development.