China’s IP Response in Environmental and Climate Action

On World Environment Day on 5 June 2026, the global core theme is “Climate Action”. The UN Environment Programme urges all sectors of society to respond to a changing world. China’s national theme is “Comprehensive Green Transition and Jointly Building a Beautiful China”. The country is coordinating efforts to reduce carbon emissions, cut pollution, promote green growth and enhance development momentum, thereby strengthening the drivers of green development. In parallel, China’s intellectual property system is being adjusted accordingly.

I. Patents: Accelerating the Industrialisation of Green Technology

For years, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has established a patent pre-examination procedure through various local IP protection centres. Through this procedure, patent applications in the field of green and low-carbon technologies may enter a fast-track examination channel, reducing the grant period for invention patents from an ordinary 2-3 years to 3-6 months. On 26 February 2026, CNIPA published the Draft Amendment to the Measures for Patent Priority Examination (for public comment), introducing systematic revisions to the priority examination system to support state‑key technological innovations.

A Tianjin-based enterprise specialising in magnetic levitation high-speed rotating machinery has, through the full-chain pre-examination services of the local IP protection centre, obtained grants for 58 invention patent applications, with a grant rate of 90% and a grant period reduced from 22 months to 3-6 months. According to information released on the local government website in October 2025, the company has over 10,000 magnetic levitation high-speed rotating units operating globally, saving more than 55 billion kWh of electricity per year and reducing carbon emissions by over 5.5 million tonnes annually.

According to the Report on Statistical Analysis of Green and Low-Carbon Patents (2025) issued by CNIPA in December 2025, the number of valid green and low-carbon patents in China grew continuously from 2016 to 2024, with an average annual growth rate of 24.1%. As of the end of 2024, China held 283,000 valid green and low-carbon patents. Between 2016 and 2024, the average annual growth rates of patent applications published in five key technical fields - energy saving and energy recovery, energy storage, clean energy, greenhouse gas capture, utilisation and storage, and fossil fuel carbon reduction - were 8.4%, 18.9%, 9.2%, 8.6% and 5.9%, respectively.

The same report shows that in 2024, the number of green and low-carbon patent applications published by Chinese applicants reached 120,000, a year‑on‑year increase of 18.9%, contributing 49.2% to global growth. In 2024, four Chinese entities ranked among the top 10 worldwide in terms of the number of green and low-carbon invention patents granted, and a further 13 Chinese enterprises or research institutions ranked among the top 50. When comparing applicants from China, the US, Europe, Japan and South Korea, China holds a certain advantage in fossil fuel carbon reduction and in energy saving and energy recovery.

II. Trade Marks: Fast‑Track Examination and Practical Challenges

In July 2025, CNIPA issued the revised Measures for Fast‑Track Examination of Trade Mark Registration Applications, explicitly including strategic emerging industries (e.g., new energy, new materials, green environmental protection) and future industries (e.g., bio‑manufacturing) within the scope of fast‑track examination. The fast‑track examination period is 20 working days.

In early 2026, an innovative new energy enterprise in Guangxi applied for two trade marks. With the assistance of the local market regulation administration, the submission materials were reviewed and filed in just three working days, and the applications were accepted into CNIPA’s fast‑track examination channel, ultimately being successfully registered at the end of March 2026.

Meanwhile, trade mark applications containing environmental terms such as “green”, “ecological”, “low-carbon”, “carbon”, “zero carbon” or “carbon neutral” are highly likely to be refused on the grounds of lacking distinctive character or being deceptive. This is in line with CNIPA's increasingly stringent examination criteria, which have resulted in higher refusal rates since 2022. An industry analysis published in early 2025 pointed out that almost all trade mark registrations containing environmental terms such as “Eco‑friendly”, “Sustainable”, “Recyclable” or “Green” were granted at least eight years ago; in recent years, almost all Chinese and English applications containing such terms have been refused.

III. Copyright: A Different Practice

Digital works are an important component of the low‑carbon economy. Copyright protection promotes the migration of industries online by ensuring the security of the digitisation process for works such as music, literature, film, television and games - a unique contribution of the copyright system to the green and low‑carbon transition.

Since its first broadcast in January 2026, the television drama Born to Be Alive, which tells the story of ecological protection in the Sanjiangyuan region of Qinghai, has achieved phenomenal popularity in China. By early April 2026, the drama had received a cumulative total of 1.07 billion views from 182 million viewers, and its hashtag on Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) had been viewed over 7.22 billion times. As the sole copyright liaison for the region, the Qinghai Provincial Radio and Television Bureau collaborated with the producer to develop a standard licensing process, enhance copyright compliance and IP management, and encourage the distribution of a documentary and cultural tourism programme featuring the same title. This has fostered a cultural travel economy centred on ecological protection in the region. It is a successful example of combining film and television works with the copyright system to drive local economic transformation.

IV. Judicial Practice: Rights Protection and Rule Clarity

From 2014 to June 2025, Chinese courts concluded over 620 cases relating to carbon market transactions, and first‑instance cases concerning environmental pollution prevention and control, ecological protection, and resource and energy exploitation and utilisation numbered approximately 60,000, 340,000 and 660,000 respectively.

In February 2026, the Supreme People’s Court and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment released a set of typical carbon market cases. They clarified that participants in carbon market transactions are not limited to key emitting entities and that contracts settled through the national carbon emissions trading system are lawful and valid. They also clarified that certified voluntary emission reductions constitute a new type of object of civil rights and interests and shall be treated as intangible assets for tax purposes.

In 2025, Chinese courts received 552,600 new intellectual property cases and concluded 539,600. During the same period, 24,000 new criminal cases concerning environmental resources were filed at first instance, marking a 32.6% decrease compared to 2021. In a dispute over infringement of a utility model patent, where the accused product had already been installed in a power grid and could not be inspected on site, the court applied the rule of shifting the burden of proof, held that the plaintiff had presented sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie case, and that the defendant had failed to provide counter evidence; the court ordered cessation of the infringement and payment of compensation, providing guidance for technology rights enforcement in the energy sector.

In April 2026, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate issued ten typical cases, one of which involved copyright infringement in the photovoltaic new energy field, where a technical investigation officer was brought in to resolve technical difficulties. In November 2025, a procuratorate in Shandong Province supervised the environmentally sound destruction of lubricating oil involved in a counterfeit trademark case, with a total value of over RMB 500,000.

V. Conclusion

Against the backdrop of urgent global environmental and climate action, China’s intellectual property system - through fast‑track patent examination, a green channel for trade marks, copyright protection and judicial practice - responds to the needs of the green transition from multiple dimensions, providing support for technological innovation and industrial transformation in the green and low‑carbon field.