With the global environmental deterioration, accelerated resource consumption, and increasing public attention to environmental protection issues, green technologies focusing on reducing resource consumption, developing renewable resources, and mitigating environmental pollution have become a worldwide hotspot. Frequent policy incentives supporting green industry development have driven rapid advancements in green technologies and environmental industries. However, the creation, application, and dissemination of green technologies rely fundamentally on intellectual property systems, particularly patent protections. Countries and organizations including the United States, United Kingdom, China, European Union, and UN Climate Change Conferences have begun exploring green patent systems through the lens of patent regimes' public policy attributes, aligning with green technology innovation goals.
Green technologies refer to innovations that promote resource conservation, energy efficiency improvement, pollution prevention, and sustainable development. Key domains include alternative energy, environmental materials, energy conservation, emission reduction, pollution control/treatment, and recycling technologies. China is actively constructing its green patent system, notably through the 2017 "Patent Priority Examination Management Measures," which explicitly prioritized examination for patents in national strategic industries such as energy conservation, environmental protection, next-gen IT, biotechnology, high-end equipment manufacturing, new energy, new materials, and new energy vehicles.
According to the 2018 "China Green Patent Statistics Report (2014-2017)" by the National Intellectual Property Administration (NIPA), China's green innovation activities have shown remarkable vitality. By the end of 2017, China's valid green patents reached 136,000. From 2014 to 2017, green patent applications totaled 249,000, with an average annual growth rate exceeding the overall invention patent growth rate by 3.7 percentage points.
The China Green Patent Application and Authorization Database developed by the CnOpenData team adopts international standards, categorizing data into three sections: invention applications, invention authorizations, and utility model patents. Each category includes basic information tables and corresponding green patent classifications. The dataset's fields comprehensively cover patent details, enabling analyses of development trends, industry focuses, regional distributions, applicant/institution characteristics, and other research dimensions.
Time Coverage
- Invention applications: Counted by application publication date (1985-2024)
- Invention authorizations/Utility models/Designs: Counted by authorization announcement date (1985-2024)
Revision Notes
- Aligned with the latest WIPO green patent identification standards and updated IPC classification codes for all patents;
- Added detailed green patent category classifications and restructured data tables for enhanced academic accessibility;
Field Demonstration
Sample Data
Basic Information Table of Chinese Green Invention Application Patents
Green Patent Categories of Chinese Invention Applications
Basic Information Table of Chinese Authorized Green Invention Patents
Green Patent Categories of Chinese Authorized Inventions
Basic Information Table of Chinese Green Utility Model Patents
Green Patent Categories of Chinese Utility Models
Relevant Literature
- Tao Feng, Zhao Jinyu, Zhou Hao, 2021: "Has Environmental Regulation Achieved 'Quality-Quantity Improvement' in Green Technology Innovation? Evidence from Environmental Target Responsibility System," China Industrial Economics No.2.
- Li Qingyuan, Xiao Zehua, 2020: "Heterogeneous Environmental Regulation Tools and Corporate Green Innovation Incentives: Evidence from Listed Companies' Green Patents," Economic Research Journal No.9.
- Qi Shaozhou, Lin Shen, Cui Jingbo, 2018: "Can Environmental Rights Trading Markets Induce Green Innovation? Evidence from Green Patent Data of Chinese Listed Companies," Economic Research Journal No.12.
- Josh L., Amit S., 2021: "The Use and Misuse of Patent Data: Issues for Finance and Beyond," The Review of Financial Studies.
Data Update Frequency
Annual Update