https://www.epo.org/en/node/climate-change

Climate change mitigation technologies

Last updated: 25.11.2019

Access to patents for climate change mitigation technologies

The EPO has established a new classification scheme for technical attributes of technologies that can be loosely referred to as climate change mitigation. This makes it easier to retrieve patent document that cover these technologies.

To ensure their relevance, the categories were defined with the help of experts in the field, both from within the EPO and with the help of external partners, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

See the list of all external partners

The so-called Y02 subclasses include areas related to specific clean energy technologies, namely Y02C (greenhouse gases- capture and storage/sequestration or disposal) and Y02E (greenhouse gases - emissions reduction technologies related to energy generation, transmission or distribution).

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Other climate change mitigation areas include Y02B, namely relating to Buildings, including the residential sector, Y02T relating to the Transportation of goods and persons, and Y04S for "Smart Grids" technologies, such as remote network operation, smart metering, electric and hybrid vehicles interoperability, and energy trading and marketing.

Updates on Y02 and Y04S

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This is what the breakdown for a specific energy type looks like (example solar energy):

Code Y02E Description Comment
10/00 Energy generation through renewable energy sources Geothermal, hydro, oceanic, solar (PV and thermal), wind
20/00 Combustion technologies with mitigation potential CHP, CCPP, IGCC, synair, cold flame, etc.
30/00 Energy generation of nuclear origin Fusion and fission
40/00 Technologies for efficient electrical power generation, transmission or distribution Reactive power compensation, efficient operation of power networks, etc.
50/00 Technologies for the production of fuel of non-fossil origin Biofuels, from waste
60/00 Technologies with potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation Energy storage (batteries, ultracapacitors, flywheels...), hydrogen technology, fuel cells, etc.
70/00 Other energy conversion or management systems reducing GHG emissions Synergies among renewable energies, fuel cells and energy storage