Energy patenting of the five countries with the most applications, plus Europe, 2015-2023

Sources

IEA analysis based on December 2025 data from the European Patent Office (EPO), and EPO and IEA (2021) Patents and the Energy Transition.

Notes

Shows a count of international patent families (IPF), each of which represents a unique invention and includes patent applications filed in at least two countries. Where multiple countries are associated with the different inventors for the same IPF, fractional counts are applied. Europe represents member countries of the European Patent Convention.