Renewable energy development is crucial for resolving global warming issues and achieving

sustainable development goals. The objective of this paper is to reveal renewable energy trends

using statistical data to identify the most developed technologies in the field, their distribution by

territory, checking the interrelation between investments in R&D and patent activity.

The changes in total investments made in renewables are studied for 2004–2019 and the increasing

trend has been observed with some fluctuations in certain years, major current investments in solar

and wind energy are detected. The dynamics of international patenting activity in solar and wind

technologies, geothermal and fuel cells, the total number of PCT applications over the past 10 years

by geographic region are considered. The results show some differences across various renewable

technologies. Solar is the most patented, wind and fuel cells are less patented but solar and wind

have shown an uptrend for the last five years, while fuel cell technologies showed a decline after

2008. Geothermal is the least patented.

The comparison between investment and patent application trends in renewables undercovers some

important issues – the leading role of Japan in patenting under the PCT procedure, while China is

a major investor in renewable energy; the US and Europe with big investments in renewables are

also leading in patent registration.

Correlation between investment in R&D and patenting activity in the field of global renewable

energy should be emphasized (correlation coefficient R = 0,849 for 2002–2019). Since private

and public investment is strongly stimulated by domestic renewable energy policies, IP indicators

can help identify policy instruments and their effectiveness within the further research

framework.

The report encompasses the activity of the Committee on Ethics in Science in the year 2016.