The contemporary world and technological innovation have brought with it new challenges. The major problem of the 21st century is to combat climate change and its global impact. Therefore, the focus now is not only on economic advancement but also on economic progress, along with social improvement and environmental sustainability.
As far-fetched as it sounds, patents can help save the day. The solution is simple- encourage green patents. Innovation in green technology is central to finding the answer to the environmental problems we currently face. We have to understand the importance of the relationship between the development of green technologies and patents.
What is Green Patent?
Green patents refer to the patenting of green technology. This means patents granted for environmentally friendly technology. For example, the technology concerning waste, wind power, geothermal energy, solar energy, tidal energy, biomass, and the like. A green patent could be a patent granted for a technology that does not harm the environment or technology that actively stops environmental degradation.
The term ‘green patent,’ viewed from the perspective of promoting sustainable human development, means the promotion of green technologies that prevent climate change and foster development along economic, social, and eco-friendly lines. Green patent, therefore, is the patenting of green technologies that promote sustainable human development while preserving the environment.
Why link Green Technologies and Patents?
The patent system also allows for the invention and production of eco-friendly technologies, which enable a society to increase its wealth while reducing its use of energy and materials. As in any other case, even concerning green technologies, the patent system works as an incentive to innovate. The patenting system can, therefore, be linked to the concept of sustainable human development by incorporating the system of green patents.
If countries take up measures such as fast-tracking green patent applications, this will work as an added incentive.
The patent system encourages inventions and innovations, which, if channelized in the right direction, can lead to achieving economic and environmental sustainability. Moreover, why the patent system is suitable for promoting sustainable development is because the system is based on so-called hard law, a law that is made up of legally binding instruments such as laws, treaties, and regulations.
Green Patents and the Law
In India, the law concerning the position of green patents vis-à-vis sustainable human development needs to be streamlined. There is no specific provision for green patents yet.
Currently, green patents are not widely heard of. There isn’t a lot of information about the steps taken to incorporate green technology into the current patent system.
There must be a patent protection system in place for green technologies. There must also be provisions for patent buy-out and technology transfer. This allows other countries also to use the patented green technology, thus making sustainable development and environmental protection a reality.
A green patent system would lead to greater harmonization, which is the incorporation of domestic patent law into an internationally uniform standard of policy and practice. The lack of hard international environmental law is a significant obstacle to global environmental protection. Introducing patents for green technology will fill the void of binding law, insofar as the international environment is concerned.
The Problem
The problem with the present patent system is that it is more inclined towards Intellectual Property Rights based industries that are lobbying for more robust patent protection resulting in a consequent bias against the sustainability of the environment. The present patent system has resulted in a rush towards inventing state of the art technology only for a financial benefit. No heed is paid to the effect that technology has on the environment. The same technique can be made environmentally viable by rewarding any technical achievement and knowledge that contributes to sustainable development.
In the contemporaneous world, most of the developing nations have been unable to tap on the benefits of green technology due to the cost of innovation as well as lack of accessibility. Here, we are brought back to the debate about social development versus economic development.
Developing countries need to focus on economic development. They possibly will not have the luxury of directing their forces towards social events at the cost of economic growth. Economic development is of utmost importance.
On the contrary, developed nations can direct their forces for the development of environmentally sustainable technology. This is because they have attained a certain level of economic growth.
Inventing green technology is very varied and is based on sophisticated engineering and other disciplines; as such, the inventors of such technology would naturally lobby for reliable protection for the effort that goes into the invention of such technology. Durable protection means that the technology will not be readily available for the developing countries to use. It is, therefore, essential to strike a balance between the economic and financial aspects of green technology and its environmental aspect.
For green technology to be a solution for battling world problems like climate change, it has to be used the world over. We cannot have only the developed nations using environmentally sustainable technology while the developing countries have no access to technology. This would defeat the whole purpose of green technology.
The fact remains that the exclusivity of use granted by owning a patent is a significant incentive to innovate. If green technology was to be made available for everyone to use, there is no incentive any longer. Then, would people still put in so much of their effort into inventing something from which they will most likely not get any financial benefit?
How do we strike a balance between maintaining an incentive for innovation and making the whole world benefit from green technology?
Technological advancement is of extreme importance in contemporaneous society. What is even more critical is technological advancement, along with environmental sustainability. As such, technological innovation can be directed towards the innovation of green technology, i.e., the technology that focuses on economic development of the country, without compromising on the quality of the environment, and in the case of green technology, actively fostering the environmental protection (thus achieving sustainable development). The curious yet viable compromise between economic growth and security of the environment can be reached through patents. Patenting of green technology can go a long way in saving the environment and ensuring that the object of sustainable development is met in its entirety (economic development along environmentally friendly lines).
