Analysis of green chemistry patents as indicators of environmental research and development

Considering the enormous growth in the number of patents worldwide, and the increasing use of patent data in economic and environmental analysis, the aim of this paper is to analyze patent activity in green chemistry with the use of patent data in order to help the understanding of the patterns of environmental research and development and sustainable development.
In this study to analyze green chemistry technology invention, after extracting the appropriate search term, search by "keyword" in the abstract, title, and claim (s) of patent was done. To this end, those inventions related to green chemistry technology which have been registered within the 1993 to 2013 in different countries or organizations were evaluated using QPAT patent database.
Findings: Patents in the field of green chemistry are mainly originated from activities of factories and companies. In general, chemical and electronic sectors hold the most patents. Japan is the largest inventor region with 32% of all green chemistry patents. China is the second largest region, holding 29% of patents, followed by the United States (24%), Europe (14 %) and the rest of the world (1%).
The economic incentives, legal and regulatory pressures and avoidance from charges by governments, citizens and environmental organizations were the major factors to move towards innovation in cleaner technologies and more favorable technological applications. The use of green chemistry technologies has proven to be an intelligent business strategy that can provide both environmental and economic benefits and can induce further technology diffusion. The results of this study provide helpful information for developing R&D strategies, policies, planning and management of environmental issues. The obtained results can be used to build a technology strategy in a private company and to make policy at a public level.