IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/amz/wpaper/2021-19.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Knowledge for a warmer world: a patent analysis of climate change adaptation technologies

Author

Listed:
  • Hötte, Kerstin
  • Jee, Su Jung

Abstract

Technologies help adapt to climate change but little systematic research about these technologies and their interaction with mitigation exists. We identify climate change adaptation technologies (CCATs) in US patent data to study the technological frontier in adaptation. We find that patenting in CCATs was roughly stagnant over the past decades. CCATs form two main clusters: (1) science-intensive CCATs related to agriculture, health and monitoring technologies; and (2) engineering-based for coastal, water and infrastructure adaptation. 25% of CCATs help in climate change mitigation, and we infer that synergies can be maximized through well designed policy. CCATs rely more on public R&D than other inventions, and CCAT patents are citing more science over time, indicating a growing relevance of research as a knowledge source for innovation. Policymakers can use these results to get greater clarity on where R&D support for CCATs can be directed.

Suggested Citation

  • Hötte, Kerstin & Jee, Su Jung, 2021. "Knowledge for a warmer world: a patent analysis of climate change adaptation technologies," INET Oxford Working Papers 2021-19, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    • Handle: RePEc:amz:wpaper:2021-19
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.inet.ox.ac.uk/files/Knowledge_for_adapatation_2022-04-28-104426_glby.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Hassler & Per Krusell & Conny Olovsson, 2021. "Directed Technical Change as a Response to Natural Resource Scarcity," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(11), pages 3039-3072.
    2. Daron Acemoglu & Philippe Aghion & Leonardo Bursztyn & David Hemous, 2012. "The Environment and Directed Technical Change," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 131-166, February.
    3. Joshua Lerner, 1994. "The Importance of Patent Scope: An Empirical Analysis," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(2), pages 319-333, Summer.
    4. Joanne Linnerooth-Bayer & Stefan Hochrainer-Stigler, 2015. "Financial instruments for disaster risk management and climate change adaptation," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 133(1), pages 85-100, November.
    5. Meyer, Martin, 2000. "Does science push technology? Patents citing scientific literature," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 409-434, March.
    6. Mowery,David C. & Rosenberg,Nathan, 1991. "Technology and the Pursuit of Economic Growth," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521389365, November.
    7. Simon Touboul & Matthieu Glachant & Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Sam Fankhauser & Jana Stoever, 2023. "Invention and Global Diffusion of Technologies for Climate Change Adaptation: A Patent Analysis," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(2), pages 316-335.
    8. Evan Mills, 2007. "Synergisms between climate change mitigation and adaptation: an insurance perspective," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 12(5), pages 809-842, June.
    9. Lea Berrang-Ford & Robbert Biesbroek & James D. Ford & Alexandra Lesnikowski & Andrew Tanabe & Frances M. Wang & Chen Chen & Angel Hsu & Jessica J. Hellmann & Patrick Pringle & Martina Grecequet & J.-, 2019. "Tracking global climate change adaptation among governments," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(6), pages 440-449, June.
    10. Persoon, P.G.J. & Bekkers, R.N.A. & Alkemade, F., 2020. "The science base of renewables," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    11. Popp, David, 2019. "Environmental Policy and Innovation: A Decade of Research," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 13(3-4), pages 265-337, September.
    12. Allie Goldstein & Will R. Turner & Jillian Gladstone & David G. Hole, 2019. "The private sector’s climate change risk and adaptation blind spots," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 18-25, January.
    13. Benjamin Spencer & Josh Lawler & Celia Lowe & LuAnne Thompson & Tom Hinckley & Soo-Hyung Kim & Susan Bolton & Scott Meschke & Julian D. Olden & Joachim Voss, 2017. "Case studies in co-benefits approaches to climate change mitigation and adaptation," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(4), pages 647-667, April.
    14. Andrea Caragliu & Peter Nijkamp, 2012. "The impact of regional absorptive capacity on spatial knowledge spillovers: the Cohen and Levinthal model revisited," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(11), pages 1363-1374, April.
    15. Sun, Wenqi & Zhao, Yuanjun & Sun, Lu, 2020. "Big Data Analytics for Venture Capital Application：Towards Innovation Performance Improvement," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 557-565.
    16. Timothy M. Lenton & Johan Rockström & Owen Gaffney & Stefan Rahmstorf & Katherine Richardson & Will Steffen & Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, 2019. "Climate tipping points — too risky to bet against," Nature, Nature, vol. 575(7784), pages 592-595, November.
    17. Chisholm, Ryan A., 2010. "Trade-offs between ecosystem services: Water and carbon in a biodiversity hotspot," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 1973-1987, August.
    18. Lema, Adrian & Lema, Rasmus, 2016. "Low-carbon innovation and technology transfer in latecomer countries: Insights from solar PV in the clean development mechanism," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 223-236.
    19. Olivier Boucher & Valentin Bellassen & Hélène Benveniste & Philippe Ciais & Patrick Criqui & Céline Guivarch & Hervé Le Treut & Sandrine Mathy & Roland Séférian, 2016. "In the wake of Paris Agreement, scientists must embrace new directions for climate change research," Post-Print hal-01342710, HAL.
    20. Wesley M. Cohen & Richard R. Nelson & John P. Walsh, 2000. "Protecting Their Intellectual Assets: Appropriability Conditions and Why U.S. Manufacturing Firms Patent (or Not)," NBER Working Papers 7552, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Hötte, Kerstin & Pichler, Anton & Lafond, François, 2021. "The rise of science in low-carbon energy technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    22. Verhoeven, Dennis & Bakker, Jurriën & Veugelers, Reinhilde, 2016. "Measuring technological novelty with patent-based indicators," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 707-723.
    23. Miao, Qing & Popp, David, 2014. "Necessity as the mother of invention: Innovative responses to natural disasters," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 280-295.
    24. David Popp, 2002. "Induced Innovation and Energy Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 160-180, March.
    25. Jee, Su Jung & Kwon, Minji & Ha, Jung Moon & Sohn, So Young, 2019. "Exploring the forward citation patterns of patents based on the evolution of technology fields," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(4).
    26. Su, Hsin-Ning & Moaniba, Igam M., 2017. "Does innovation respond to climate change? Empirical evidence from patents and greenhouse gas emissions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 49-62.
    27. Buob, Seraina & Stephan, Gunter, 2011. "To mitigate or to adapt: How to confront global climate change," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 1-16, March.
    28. Omar Bellprat & Virginie Guemas & Francisco Doblas-Reyes & Markus G. Donat, 2019. "Towards reliable extreme weather and climate event attribution," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-7, December.
    29. Kamal Saggi, 2002. "Trade, Foreign Direct Investment, and International Technology Transfer: A Survey," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 17(2), pages 191-235, September.
    30. François Lafond & Daniel Kim, 2019. "Long-run dynamics of the U.S. patent classification system," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 631-664, April.
    31. Cowan, Robin, 1990. "Nuclear Power Reactors: A Study in Technological Lock-in," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(3), pages 541-567, September.
    32. Anton Pichler & Franc{c}ois Lafond & J. Doyne Farmer, 2020. "Technological interdependencies predict innovation dynamics," Papers 2003.00580, arXiv.org.
    33. Paola Criscuolo & Rajneesh Narula, 2008. "A novel approach to national technological accumulation and absorptive capacity: aggregating Cohen and Levinthal," The European Journal of Development Research, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 56-73.
    34. Declan Conway & Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Ivan Haščič & Nick Johnstone, 2015. "Invention and Diffusion of Water Supply and Water Efficiency Technologies: Insights from a Global Patent Dataset," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 1(04), pages 1-34, December.
    35. David Popp, 2019. "Environmental policy and innovation: a decade of research," CESifo Working Paper Series 7544, CESifo.
    36. Ferreira, João J.M. & Fernandes, Cristina I. & Ferreira, Fernando A.F., 2020. "Technology transfer, climate change mitigation, and environmental patent impact on sustainability and economic growth: A comparison of European countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    37. Tarasconi, Gianluca & Kang, Byeongwoo, 2015. "PATSTAT revisited," IDE Discussion Papers 527, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    38. Anne M. van Valkengoed & Linda Steg, 2019. "Meta-analyses of factors motivating climate change adaptation behaviour," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(2), pages 158-163, February.
    39. David Popp, 2019. "Environmental Policy and Innovation: A Decade of Research," NBER Working Papers 25631, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    40. Albino, Vito & Ardito, Lorenzo & Dangelico, Rosa Maria & Messeni Petruzzelli, Antonio, 2014. "Understanding the development trends of low-carbon energy technologies: A patent analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 836-854.
    41. Ruttan, Vernon W, 1997. "Induced Innovation, Evolutionary Theory and Path Dependence:," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(444), pages 1520-1529, September.
    42. Samuel Fankhauser & Nicholas Stern, 2016. "Climate change, development, poverty and economics," GRI Working Papers 253, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    43. Arame Tall & Sarah Lynagh & Candela Blanco Vecchi & Pepukaye Bardouille & Felipe Montoya Pino & Elham Shabahat & Vladimir Stenek & Fiona Stewart & Samantha Power & Cindy Paladines & Philippe Neves & L, 2021. "Enabling Private Investment in Climate Adaptation and Resilience," World Bank Publications - Reports 35203, The World Bank Group.
    44. Emma L. Tompkins & Katharine Vincent & Robert J. Nicholls & Natalie Suckall, 2018. "Documenting the state of adaptation for the global stocktake of the Paris Agreement," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(5), September.
    45. Matt Marx & Aaron Fuegi, 2020. "Reliance on Science by Inventors: Hybrid Extraction of In-text Patent-to-Article Citations," NBER Working Papers 27987, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    46. Antoine Dechezlepretre & Sam Fankhauser & Matthieu Glachant & Jan Stoever & Simon Touboul, 2020. "Invention and Global Diffusion of Technologies for Climate Change Adaptation," World Bank Publications - Reports 33883, The World Bank Group.
    47. Christian Gollier & James K. Hammitt, 2014. "The Long-Run Discount Rate Controversy," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 273-295, October.
    48. Matt Marx & Aaron Fuegi, 2020. "Reliance on science: Worldwide front‐page patent citations to scientific articles," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(9), pages 1572-1594, September.
    49. Alexandra Lesnikowski & James Ford & Robbert Biesbroek & Lea Berrang-Ford & Michelle Maillet & Malcolm Araos & Stephanie E. Austin, 2017. "What does the Paris Agreement mean for adaptation?," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(7), pages 825-831, October.
    50. Pam Berry & Sally Brown & Minpeng Chen & Areti Kontogianni & Olwen Rowlands & Gillian Simpson & Michalis Skourtos, 2015. "Cross-sectoral interactions of adaptation and mitigation measures," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 381-393, February.
    51. Scott Barrett, 2020. "Dikes Versus Windmills: Climate Treaties And Adaptation," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 11(04), pages 1-16, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yoon, Hyungseok & Tashman, Peter & Benischke, Mirko H. & Doh, Jonathan & Kim, Namil, 2024. "Climate impact, institutional context, and national climate change adaptation IP protection rates," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 39(1).
    2. Natalia Wagner, 2023. "Inventive Activity for Climate Change Mitigation: An Insight into the Maritime Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-23, November.
    3. Minjong Cheon & Changbae Mun, 2023. "The Climate of Innovation: AI’s Growing Influence in Weather Prediction Patents and Its Future Prospects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Mavi, Can Askan, 2024. "Creative destruction vs destructive destruction: A Schumpeterian approach for adaptation and mitigation," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 36-53.
    5. Kang, Jia-Ning & Zhang, Yun-Long & Chen, Weiming, 2022. "Delivering negative emissions innovation on the right track: A patent analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hötte, Kerstin & Pichler, Anton & Lafond, François, 2021. "The rise of science in low-carbon energy technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    2. Barbieri, Nicolò & Marzucchi, Alberto & Rizzo, Ugo, 2023. "Green technologies, interdependencies, and policy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    3. Nicolo Barbieri & Alberto Marzucchi & Ugo Rizzo, 2021. "Green technologies, complementarities, and policy," SPRU Working Paper Series 2021-08, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    4. Grafström, Jonas & Poudineh, Rahmat, 2023. "No evidence of counteracting policy effects on European solar power invention and diffusion," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    5. Johan Lilliestam & Anthony Patt & Germán Bersalli, 2022. "On the quality of emission reductions: observed effects of carbon pricing on investments, innovation, and operational shifts. A response to van den Bergh and Savin (2021)," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 83(3), pages 733-758, November.
    6. Rik L. Rozendaal & Herman R. J. Vollebergh, 2021. "Policy-Induced Innovation in Clean Technologies: Evidence from the Car Market," CESifo Working Paper Series 9422, CESifo.
    7. Jingbo Cui & Zhenxuan Wang & Haishan Yu, 2022. "Can International Climate Cooperation Induce Knowledge Spillover to Developing Countries? Evidence from CDM," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 82(4), pages 923-951, August.
    8. Brehm, Johannes & aus dem Moore, Nils & Gruhl, Henri, 2022. "Driving Innovation? – Carbon Tax Effects in the Swedish Transport Sector," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264085, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    9. Higham, Kyle & Contisciani, Martina & De Bacco, Caterina, 2022. "Multilayer patent citation networks: A comprehensive analytical framework for studying explicit technological relationships," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    10. Aghion, Philippe & Boneva, Lena & Breckenfelder, Johannes & Laeven, Luc & Olovsson, Conny & Popov, Alexander & Rancoita, Elena, 2022. "Financial Markets and Green Innovation," Working Paper Series 2686, European Central Bank.
    11. Lucas Bretschger & Matthias Leuthard & Alena Miftakhova, 2024. "Boosting Sluggish Climate Policy: Endogenous Substitution, Learning, and Energy Efficiency Improvements," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 24/391, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    12. Feng, Siyu & Lazkano, Itziar, 2022. "Innovation trends in electricity storage: What drives global innovation?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    13. Jeroen den Bergh & Ivan Savin, 2021. "Impact of Carbon Pricing on Low-Carbon Innovation and Deep Decarbonisation: Controversies and Path Forward," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 80(4), pages 705-715, December.
    14. Gatto, Andrea & Drago, Carlo & Panarello, Demetrio & Aldieri, Luigi, 2023. "Energy transition in China: Assessing progress in sustainable development and resilience directions," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    15. Acemoglu, Daron & Rafey, Will, 2023. "Mirage on the horizon: Geoengineering and carbon taxation without commitment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    16. Silvia Dalla Fontana & Ramana Nanda, 2023. "Innovating to Net Zero: Can Venture Capital and Start-Ups Play a Meaningful Role?," Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(1), pages 79-105.
    17. Michael Peneder & Spyros Arvanitis & Christian Rammer & Tobias Stucki & Martin Wörter, 2022. "Policy instruments and self-reported impacts of the adoption of energy saving technologies in the DACH region," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 49(2), pages 369-404, May.
    18. Mohamed Bahlali, 2023. "Energy storage and the direction of technical change," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 43(1), pages 318-327.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q55 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Technological Innovation
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:amz:wpaper:2021-19. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: INET Oxford admin team (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inoxfuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.