𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎 – 𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐥𝐨𝐰-𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲
Carving a pathway to a green future is a modern-day imperative. The 2020 World Intellectual Property Day campaign puts innovation – and the rights that support it – at the heart of the efforts to shape a low-carbon future. Across the world, recognition of the need to act to preserve the environment is growing. People, businesses and governments are starting to take action to tackle climate change.
In Europe, for example, the European Commission has set a goal for the European Union to be carbon neutral by 2050, and some cities and regions want to move even faster: Copenhagen aims to become the world’s first CO2-neutral capital by 2025.
At the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 25) in Madrid, Spain, in December 2019, we learned that Greenland’s ice sheet is melting seven times faster than in the 1990s and that a quarter of the world’s population is at risk of water supply problems. Over the past decade, data from NASA show that the planet has experienced the five warmest years ever recorded since 2010.
As we embark on a new decade, the impact of climate change is being felt across the globe. Almost daily, we hear about extreme climate-related events – storms, floods, drought, wildfires – and the devastation they cause; events that may already be related to climate change and which are expected to become even more frequent and intensive.
Tackling the global climate crisis is a daunting challenge. Each of us shares in the common goal to address it and to build a green future.
Technology is increasingly recognized as part of the solution. This further highlights the need to redouble efforts to establish robust national innovation systems and enable access to effective national intellectual property (IP) systems that support the development and deployment of the technologies, products and services needed to transition to a green future.
Transitioning to a low-carbon future is undoubtedly a complex and multi-faceted endeavour. But we have the collective wisdom, ingenuity and creativity to come up with new, more effective ways to shape a green future and the IP system has a pivotal and enabling role in supporting us on this journey.
Text: World Intellectual Property Organization
For more information: https://www.wipo.int/ip-outr…/…/ipday/2020/green_future.html