The term Green IP refers to the protection of innovations in the field of green technology. It is a concept which entails the legal protection of innovations which may prove helpful to the environment. In today’s date, going green is not only an option but a necessity to facilitate the continuance of human survival. In this view, India has slowly begun to realize that environmental degradation has increasingly become a primordial threat to growth and development, further restricting sustainability.

For the facilitation of this environmental sustainability, innovation policies and environmental laws will play a key role in addressing global environmental issues and to protect such innovations, advancements and creativity, Intellectual Property system plays an enabling role.

Article 7 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) asserting the role of Green IP holds:
The protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights should contribute to the promotion of technological innovation and to the transfer and dissemination of technology, to the mutual advantage of producers and users of technological knowledge and in a manner conducive to social and economic welfare, and to a balance of rights and obligations.

However, there appears to be some ambiguity about the role of Green IP as either a barrier or a catalyst to widespread access and use of innovations that also benefit the environment and society. The body of literature on IP strongly indicates that companies can strategically use their IP to foster structural changes in industries and economies, such as through shaping the appropriability regime they operate in, but with hardly any focus on sustainability-related changes.

Irrespective of the counter analysis, I would still like to believe that Intellectual property as a policy exists to create an enabling environment for – and to stimulate investment in – innovation; to create a framework in which new technologies can be traded around the world and shared, and even if faced with certain hindrances, will fulfill the sustainability goals. In the modern days, intellectual property rights can truly help the transition to a sustainable, low-carbon emission economy by creating a green future.

A successful green innovator can, by adopting different IP systems at different stages of their innovation process (i.e, research and development, commercialization, market-entry, and diffusion of green technology), truly lead India to a sustainable environment.