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April 28, 2021

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Carbon emission fears

Source: AFP | 00:00 UTC+8 April 28, 2021 | Print Edition

Innovation in clean energy has slowed, a report released yesterday found, a worrying development as global plans to meet carbon emission reductions targets rely on yet-to-be-developed technologies.

A joint report by the European Patent Office and the International Energy Agency found that the average annual growth rate of patents for low carbon emissions technologies has fallen to 3.3 percent since 2017, considerably slower than the average level of 12.5 percent in the period 2000-2013.

At the climate summit last week in Washington, many countries reiterated pledges to reach net-zero carbon emissions by mid-century or soon thereafter.

However, the EPO-IEA report 鈥淧atents and the energy transition鈥 found that around 35 percent of the cumulative CO2 emission cuts needed to shift to a sustainable path to reach net-zero emissions by 2070 are still currently at the prototype or demonstration phase.

It said that 鈥渢he energy sector will only reach net-zero emissions if there is a significant and concerted global push to accelerate innovation.鈥

The report found that energy efficiency and fuel-switching technologies remained at the top of patent activities, accounting for about 60 percent of the total.

Patent activity in renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar has been in decline for nearly a decade, and represented just 17 percent of the total in 2019, the report found.

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