Policy Brief 162, 2 September 2026
Intellectual property and the green technology divide: barriers, policy spaces and collective options for developing countries
By Paulo Esteves
Developing countries are expected to industrialise, decarbonise, and adapt to climate change simultaneously. Yet, many crucial climate technologies remain inaccessible because key knowledge is protected by patents and trade secrets held by multinational companies in a few countries. Drawing on the intellectual property (IP) and climate literature, the paper maps this green technology IP landscape and synthesises four interacting barrier clusters – access costs, transaction costs, legal and institutional constraints (including TRIPS and “TRIPS plus”), and information and absorptive capacity gaps – that hinder diffusion and reinforce dependence. It concludes that closing the green technology divide requires a combined strategy: using and defending TRIPS flexibilities (e.g., compulsory licensing and tighter patentability standards), building collective licensing and transparency mechanisms (such as patent pools), mobilising finance, and investing in domestic capability and competition policy so access translates into real deployment and learning.