Green Channel patent applications hit record highs

New data obtained by law firm Lewis Silkin shows that UK patent applications made through the Green Channel in 2024 remained at the record levels seen in the previous year. The Green Channel is a free service introduced in 2009, allowing patent applications for inventions that demonstrate an environmental benefit. Applicants must show how their application is environmentally friendly and specify which actions they wish to accelerate: search, examination, combined search and examination, and/or publication.

The Green Channel data, obtained by Lewis Silkin via a Freedom of Information Request, reveals that the number of Green Channel patent grants reached a new high in 2024 with the figure at 394, up from 327 in 2023. Green Channel patent grants now represent 5% of total patents granted by the UKIPO, moving up from 3% in 2018. Additionally, since 2018, the proportion of Green Channel patent requests has doubled, rising from 1.4% in 2018 to 3% in 2024. Non-UK Green Channel applications saw a slight increase to 24% compared to 20% in 2023.

Despite flattening this year, Green Channel applications have grown by over 300% since the scheme's launch in 2009, with more than 6,000 applications submitted in total (from 2009 to H1 2025) and over 3,000 patent grants issued. Commenting on the findings, Jonathan Hewett, partner at Lewis Silkin, said “This latest data shows the continued appeal of the Green Channel to the innovators bringing to market new and exciting green technologies. That Green Channel applications and grants represent a growing proportion of the patents dealt with by the UKIPO overall is a telling indication of the potential advantage that strategic use of the Green Channel can offer suitable inventions.”

Hewett added “It should be reiterated that the Green Channel is not only for renewable energy or waste management inventions as some might think. It can be considered for any invention which has an environmental benefit. Now over a year into its administration, the government is continuing to focus on unlocking innovation and investment in green technologies.”

He further noted “The combination of political support and ongoing market demand for technologies that, not least, support the delivery of net zero and wider sustainability objectives means that the Green Channel remains a potentially important route to accelerating new solutions to market. Use of the Green Channel should be high on the agenda for organisations with potentially suitable innovations and, judging by the data to date, it would be no surprise if 2025 turns out to be another record year for applications.”