Global warming mitigation has its own fashion trends. One of them is to obtain carbon neutral status.
For reference, carbon neutrality is the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and its analogues to zero resulting from organization’s activities.
Not only factories and plants, but also fashion houses such as Burberry and Gucci have joined the movement for carbon neutrality. In addition to them, not so long ago, the European Patent Organization (EPO) approved the 2030 Strategic Plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.
One of the most obvious ways to implement the 2030 Plan is to fully digitalize the patent process. In other words, EPO intends to exclude the use of paper (obtained, mind you, from a valuable natural resource) at all stages of the office work. This will lead to more unobvious, but equally valuable results – the release of useful areas of the buildings previously allocated for archives and the acceleration of the office work process. As a result, by 2023, paper consumption is planned to be reduced by 70% compared to 2018.
Also, EPO adheres to the well-known “Reduce-reuse-recycle” approach. This includes the maximum possible minimization of the generation of household waste, the use of reusable packages and water-saving devices.
In addition, on an annual basis, measures will be taken to optimize the operation of lighting, heating, cooling and other types of equipment necessary for the comfortable work of the office employees. For example, today, all the EPO premises operate on “green electricity”, that is, with the help of the sun, wind and water energy.
Lastly, a completely unobvious benefit is a reduction in CO2 emissions by reducing the number of business trips of the patent office employees, since flights and transfers are accompanied by rather large emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In addition, EPO will launch a number of initiatives to encourage its employees to use green transport, as well as to provide more flexibility for working remotely. Fortunately, the global pandemic has already demonstrated that this is a 100% achievable task.
And for those who wish to delve into the topic of global climate change, EPO has introduced the patent classifier Y02 / Y04S, which can be used to search for relevant patents, track modern technologies and major trends, and simplify further research and development.
Contact the patenting professionals of INTECTICA. Our scientific and patent department will help identify all key trends, plan and protect your ideas in all countries of the world. We bring new products to the market of all countries of the world, and also carry out direct office work in the countries of the European Union, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, you can find out more on our website.
You can order a consultation, search or application by calling the contact phone and via e-mail.
