How AI is helping to advance green technology

Beyond consumer pressure on businesses to embrace innovations that can accelerate the transition to net zero, new regulation will also play a role in the continued prominence of green AI patent filings. The EU AI Act includes provisions that encourage the development and deployment of AI technologies that contribute to sustainability and climate goals. The correlation between the rise in green AI patent filings and the regulatory environment created by the EU AI Act reflects the EU’s two-pronged commitment to sustainability and technological innovation.

“AI regulations are advancing at pace in several major markets. While companies wait for the exact impact of these regulations to unfold, the importance of IP protection in green innovation is already clear,” said  Mike Williams, lead partner in AI at Marks & Clerk.

“It is encouraging to see the powerful growth in patent applications for AI green innovations. This demonstrates that companies are increasingly looking to apply the AI advances made in the last two decades to developing solutions to global environmental challenges. This is clearly still a nascent and developing area, but given the scale of the problem, the societal and financial rewards these innovations could offer are unmatched. Both the US and UK patent offices offer favourable treatment for green innovations, which should further bolster growth in this space.”

“On top of the usual advantages of strong IP protection, many Patent Offices offer favourable treatment to companies’ environmentally friendly innovations”

Despite the promising uptick, however, green AI patents still represent just  four per cent of all AI filings. There are several possible reasons the numbers may be understated, including classification challenges or the fact that many general advancements in AI have wide-ranging applications that extend into green technology.

That said, Marks & Clerk said the rapid escalation of filings in the last year conveys the importance of green AI in the context of the global net zero transition, clearly signalling that the intersection of AI and sustainability is a trend that has enormous growth potential.

It added that the grouping together of innovation and sustainability is a trend that is playing out both from a regulatory perspective – but clearly with commercial advantages as well​. The data represents an inflection point whereby innovation and sustainability are dovetailing – presenting a huge opportunity for businesses to capitalise on the current direction of travel.

 “There is a clear opportunity for companies to increase IP protection in green innovation. It’s surprising that companies aren’t registering a larger share of their IP in green technologies – especially given the global nature of the challenges and the significant rewards for effective solutions,” said Williams.

“On top of the usual advantages of strong IP protection, many Patent Offices offer favourable treatment to companies’ environmentally friendly innovations. However, our analysis reveals a real gap in companies active in green innovation fully leveraging IP protection in this crucial area.”