Research Information System
Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, vol.28, no.4, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
The debate on whether energy patents represent a curse or a blessing for the environment is both timely and critical, as it directly shapes the role of technological innovations in advancing sustainable practices. On the one hand, energy patents can stimulate eco-friendly innovation by incentivizing research and development (R&D). On the other, they may hinder the diffusion of these technologies by restricting access or fostering monopolistic control over key green innovations. Against this backdrop, this study examines the impact of energy patents, specifically clean energy and fossil fuel patents, on the ecological footprint (EF) of the United Kingdom from 2000Q1 to 2022Q4. In addition, the analysis considers the role of the energy technology R&D budget (ETRD) and renewable energy consumption (REC). To capture the heterogeneous marginal effects of the independent variables across different points of the EF distribution, the study applies the modified kernel regularized quantile regression (MKRQR) approach. The results confirm stationarity at various quantiles and reveal significant cointegration among the variables. Empirical evidence from the MKRQR estimates shows that REC reduces EF, particularly at medium-to-high quantiles, while clean energy patents exert stronger mitigation effects under conditions of greater ecological stress. By contrast, fossil fuel patents consistently increase EF across the distribution. Moreover, although the ETRD budget displays mixed effects at lower quantiles, it contributes to a reduction in EF at higher quantiles. Based on these findings, the study offers targeted policy recommendations, emphasizing the importance of scaling up renewable energy adoption, expanding clean energy patent incentives, and redirecting R&D budgets away from fossil fuel technologies toward sustainable innovations.