The Green Technology Book special EXPO25 edition presents an assessment of the state of energy innovation for climate change in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. By showcasing concrete examples of technologies, we aim to make the energy transition debate tangible and inspire direct action. For this reason, the chapters are designed to target specific end-user groups, ranging from individual farmers to shopping malls and water utilities.
The Green Technology Book can be considered a climate technology catalogue meant for inspiration, but also a living project to which everyone can contribute. The publication links to the free public WIPO GREEN Database of Needs and Green Technologies, where users can create a profile and share their particular climate solutions and needs. All solutions related to the Green Technology Book can be found in the dedicated Green Technology Book Collection in the database.
The EXPO25 special edition of the Green Technology Book is the first to have a specific geographic focus, namely the APAC region. Such broad geographical groupings are not always consistently defined across international organizations. We here define APAC as comprising South Asia with Pakistan as the furthest western boundary, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Australia and Oceania.
How we wrote the book
For the purposes of this publication, we considered a broad set of scientific articles and gray literature, as well as technology databases and webpages developed by private, public and civil society entities and organizations. Search strings included broad terms related to climate mitigation and adaptation paired with key terms for the three thematic areas, as well as key terms related to specific technologies (“efficient water pumps,” “immersion cooling,” “solar home systems” and so on). Translation engines enabled us to search articles in several languages to ensure a broad geographical spread.
Owners of the technologies identified were contacted, and all technologies uploaded to the WIPO GREEN Database of Needs and Green Technologies, either by the owner or by us.
Throughout the publication, we operate with three concepts: innovation, solution and technology. Although sometimes used almost interchangeably, they do have different meanings.
We utilize the term innovation to cover all intellectual creativity that can result in a solution.
Solution broadly means to deploy the output of this innovation to solve a specific challenge.
Technology is a broad term, but we apply it more narrowly to any physical entity or technique, with or without additional equipment, that is deployed to resolve a specific challenge.
We are primarily interested in a technology’s potential for mitigating and adapting to impacts from climate change. We therefore cover technologies broadly, ranging from the very simple to the highly complex. Often the scope of climate technologies is expanded to include enabling mechanisms such as ownership and institutional arrangements that pertain to the technology in question (e.g., building codes or energy management systems). While recognizing the importance of such mechanisms, we focus primarily on tangible technologies or actual techniques.
It is important to emphasize that the technologies presented here have not been tested or in any way vetted by WIPO, and that we rely on publicly available material. Inclusion in the Green Technology Book is therefore not a recommendation of a particular technology. Technologies presented here should be seen as examples of a technology area, of which there may be many similar offerings which to our knowledge are in no way inferior. Photos illustrating the technologies are used with permission from the technology owners. Where permission could not be obtained, we instead use relevant stock-photos or AI-generated images. Photos of technologies may therefore not represent the actual technology in question.
The appropriateness of a technology is often highly context-specific and relates to factors other than geographical location. Therefore, no recommendations on where, when or how the technologies might be suitable are provided. Such an assessment should always be made with the involvement of local experts and stakeholders. Technology owners can freely upload their technology to the WIPO GREEN Database of Needs and Green Technologies and thereby become part of the collection.
The following criteria were used when selecting technologies for the Green Technology Book:
relevance for climate change mitigation and adaptation
relevance for the thematic areas
That these technologies pertain to:
a product or service available for purchase or licensing
a product or service available for free/open source
a guidebook on the application of a method or technique
a research project or similar (for horizon technologies).
In addition, the following factors were taken into consideration:
anticipated impact from implementation
availability of sufficient quality information or third-party endorsements
market availability (for proven and frontier technologies)
cost in relation to impact
geographical balance
business balance (large- and small-scale businesses, startups, research teams, non-governmental organizations and so on)
no-harm principle.
We have divided technologies into three broad groups in order to indicate their maturity and availability. Proven technologies have been on the market for some time and therefore rely on a tried and tested concept. Frontier technologies are available, but still relatively new, and as such possibly less validated within a real-world setting. Horizon technologies are those new concepts being developed and expected to become available within a few years’ time; that is to say, technologies that are realistic and likely to become available very soon. Additionally, technology maturity was broadly assessed according to the standard Technology Readiness Level (TRL) definition. According to this measure, horizon technologies have the lowest readiness level but are still close to full development (TRL 3–6), whereas proven and frontier technologies are validated and ready to be scaled-up if this has not already been done (TRL 7–9).
When presenting technologies, we have included a few classifiers as an easy guide to relevance for a reader. We have aimed for a broad representation of technologies at various stages of complexity and readiness. We classify technologies as either of a low, medium or high level of complexity. This is an indication only, and does not follow a strict definition of complexity. It reflects the relative level of human, material and monetary resources required to implement the solution.
Many more relevant technologies can be found in and added to the Green Technology Book Collection in the WIPO GREEN Database of Needs and Green Technologies. We welcome feedback and suggestions. These can be sent to us through the WIPO GREEN website or through email: info@wipogreen.wipo.int.
Disclaimer
This publication, WIPO and WIPO GREEN are in no way affiliated with any of the featured companies. Nor does this publication imply that other non-featured companies or technology solutions do not exist. All content in this publication is provided in good faith and based on information provided directly from the providers and/or using publicly available materials. Photos of technologies may not necessarily depict the actual technology in question. Therefore, WIPO and WIPO GREEN disclaim any warranties, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability or completeness of any information provided. WIPO and WIPO GREEN are not responsible for any negative outcomes resulting from actions taken based on information in this publication.
URL links
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