The twenty-first century represents the rise of the ‘weightless economy’, or the economic growth caused by the prevalence of ideas, knowledge, and information, which exemplifies the importance of practical innovation. These potentially valuable human products are protected under a legal regime of property rights known as intellectual property rights.
Intellectual property rights protect the inventions of the mind through various types of IPR such as copyright, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, etc. On the occasion of the World Intellectual Property Day this year in 2020, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) developed the theme “Innovate for a Green Future”. The theme aims to encourage intellectual property (IP) offices around the world to identify inventions in their country which help in the shift to a low-carbon future.
Today, the world faces a crisis larger than World War III. The need of the hour remains to cut global greenhouse gas emissions by 7.6% every year lest we let the Earth warm by over 3 degrees Celsius. Rise in the global temperature, even above 2 degrees Celsius, would cause the destruction of over 40% of the Amazonian rainforests, reclamation of coastal cities by the sea, stronger natural disasters and a global food crisis, just to name a few. It has been found that the extraction of resources, including food and fuel, amounts to over half of the global greenhouse gas emissions and over 90% of the loss of biodiversity. To enable sustainability in our interaction with the environment, it is necessary to develop technological innovations which are eco-friendly and cost-effective. Intellectual property rights function to be an important instrument in helping develop opportunities to promote eco-friendly innovation.
Intellectual Property and Transfer of Green Technology
Perhaps the greatest forte of intellectual property rights is the strong incentive it fosters for innovators to create. The right of exclusivity created through IP ensures that an innovator’s time and effort spent is duly rewarded, which, in most cases, happens through the system of patents. This justified lure of a reward encourages enhanced research and development since ordinary and obvious inventions are not patentable.
Yet, the greatest way in which IP enables the spread of green technology is through the fearless diffusion of knowledge which it helps create. Article 7 of the Agreement on the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (hereinafter ‘TRIPS Agreement’) states the aim of intellectual property rights as the promotion, transfer and dissemination of technology. Since, IP rights grant inventors protection against exploitation of their efforts, information can be publicly shared for all to see, but none to copy without authorisation. This guaranteed protection enables for large-scale investment by companies and governments to develop sustainable technology without unbounded fear of their work being exploited.
Environmental degradation has now led to the growth of green innovation or eco-innovation. These innovations focus on manufacturing goods and services which do not harm the environment or aim to reduce the impact they have on the environment, in comparison to other similar goods in the market. Patenting such innovations can benefit companies by creating more sustainable business opportunities. For example, patents played an important role in the development of the ‘Life Straw’, an orally usable straw filter which filters dirty water pushed through the straw into clean, drinking water, thus helping in preventing water-borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid and Hepatitis A.
The diffusion and development of green technology is a crucial factor for environmental sustainability. In pursuance of this aim, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has established WIPO Green, which is a database of eco-friendly technologies from around the world. Another initiative for the proliferation of eco-innovations comes from Sony, IBM, Nokia and Pitney Bowes. They established the Eco-Patent Commons which provides royalty-free patented green technologies for businesses and individuals to use.
Challenges Hindering Growth of Eco-Innovation Through IP
Currently, there seems to be a poor understanding of the relation between IP and the environment. This could be because of the challenge which green innovation presents. While such technology aims to reduce our carbon footprint, the development of such technology may not always be cost-effective. When we consider the widespread availability of cheap but polluting alternatives for the same technology in a market, this becomes a problem.
One way by which eco-innovation can be encouraged is by introducing regulatory measures, such as increasing carbon taxes, i.e. taxing the usage of carbon-based fuels like coal and oil. Yet another way is by reducing taxes on technology utilizing clean energy.For instance,India has reduced the GST rate for electric cars to 5% while keeping the rate for petrol and diesel cars at 28%. Both these methods would encourage people to search for alternatives in the form of clean energy, which in turn would give a push for research and development in the field of eco-innovation.
Today, there is a growth in the investment for eco-innovation due to people’s awareness of the impact they create on the environment. Yet, this growth is insubstantial and represents a market failure to adopt such technology. Despite the need, inventors have little motive for working towards the creation of novel, sustainable technology due to a weak IP regime prevalent in many developing nations.
Essentially, a weak IP regime presents the second biggest challenge to the growth of environment-friendly innovation. Article 4.5 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) requires that developed nations take steps to promote and facilitate the transfer and access to environmentally sound technologies to the developing nations. Further, the 1992 Earth Summit held at Rio de Janeiro, which led to the development of ‘Agenda 21’, also emphasised the importance of technology transfer for increasing sustainability. Yet, without a strong system to protect the IP rights associated with such technology, developed nations would not be readily willing to partake in technology transfer.
In pursuance of this goal of making environmentally sound technologies readily available for all, developing nations such as Brazil, India, China and South Africa push for patent pools as a possible solution. They argue for the development of a ‘Global Technology Pool for Climate Change’, which works similarly to a patent pool. A patent pool is an arrangement between patent owners which allows for access to some or all of each other’s patented technologies. A patent pool established solely for the distribution of environmentally sound technology would mean much wider distribution, thereby enabling tackling of issues related to climate change on a global level.
Conclusion
Many scholars oppose the IPR regime. According to them, knowledge which is for the development of mankind should be free. However, the economic prospect of a reward which IP rights create, serves to encourage research and development in eco-innovation, thus enhancing environmental sustainability. Today, rising temperatures and disappearing glaciers are direct visual indicators of the impact created on the environment through the use of inefficient and polluting technology. There is a global need for more environmentally sustainable technologies. Contrary to the fears of some, a strong IP regime is a prerequisite for moving ahead in this direction.
Yashwardhan Singh & Deeksha Singh
Yashwardhan is a final year student at Symbiosis Law School, Pune. His area of focus stands to be in the field of intellectual property law. He serves as an Associate Editor on the socio-legal blog, Law & Order.
Deeksha is a final year law student at Symbiosis Law School, Pune. She has a keen interest in intellectual property laws, developed through her internships with organisations such as FICCI and TMT Law & Practice.
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