Empirics prove fast tracking green tech fails

In order to ensure that a sufficient amount of resources is allocated to R&D of climate change technologies, there is a need to provide adequate incentives to invest in these directions. Unsurprisingly—considering the central role that patents play in innovation law and policy as a general manner64—policy makers and IP scholars alike have devoted much attention to the patent system as a potential mechanism to promote environmental innovation.65 Among other things, in an effort to “green” the patent system and boost the incentives it provides for the development of environmental technologies, various patent offices around the world have implemented measures to fast-track green patent applications66—yet, at least in the United States, such schemes have not had a significant impact.67 Other measures proposed by scholars in order to bolster patent incentives for green innovation include reducing registration fees,68 lengthening patent term,69 and lowering patentability standards in order to make it easier to obtain environmental patents.70 For the most part, the possibility of relying on patents to incentivize innovation in the field has not been questioned, and as noted above, the main focus of scholars and policy makers has been on concerns regarding restrictions on access to patented technologies.71