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

Kerstin Hötte and Su Jung Jee

INET Oxford Working Papers from Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford

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.

Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2021-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-env, nep-ino, nep-isf and nep-tid
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Knowledge for a warmer world: A patent analysis of climate change adaptation technologies (2022)
Working Paper: Knowledge for a warmer world: a patent analysis of climate change adaptation technologies (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:amz:wpaper:2021-19

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