Life Cycle Assessment Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- China dominates the filing base. 46 of the tracked receiving-office filings originate in China, well ahead of WIPO's 8 and the EPO's 7.
- Filings peaked in 2025, not 2026. Activity climbed from 0 in 2017 to 22 in 2025, and the 2026 figure of 4 is a partial year still filling in.
- One battery-recycling cluster dominates co-filing. Hunan Brunp and Guangdong Brunp entities co-assign 6 of the 7 tracked co-assignee pairs, pointing to a single corporate family driving joint filings.
What this landscape covers
This landscape tracks patent families that combine life cycle assessment (LCA) or product carbon footprint methodology with specific computational claims around inventory data quality, system boundary definition, allocation methods, primary data collection or verification. The search restricts to G06Q10, G06Q50 and G16Z99 classifications, which keeps the set focused on business-process and administrative computation rather than pure environmental science or LCA software tooling in the abstract.
The 77 families span 2015 to mid-2026, with the bulk of activity concentrated in the last three years. Filings route predominantly through the China National Intellectual Property Administration, with a smaller but meaningful tail through WIPO, the EPO, the USPTO, India and Japan.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 77-family dataset: how filing volume moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
A late, steep run-up
The filing count sat at zero in 2017, reached 7 by the 2022 midpoint, and climbed to a peak of 22 in 2025. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2026 count of 4 understates true filing activity for that year and should not be read as a slowdown yet.
Business-process core, computation periphery
Every record in this set carries a G06Q classification by construction of the search, but 21 records also carry G06F (general digital data processing) and 7 carry G06N (AI-based computing), showing a minority of filings pairing carbon accounting claims with machine-learning or general-purpose computing elements. H04L, G05B, H02J and G16C appear only in single digits, marking data-transmission, control-system, grid and computational-chemistry crossovers as minor but present threads.
Shares are the percentage of the 77 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Life Cycle Assessment and Carbon Footprint Computation with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about life cycle assessment and carbon footprint computation and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited filings
EP4546231A1 — ICM-based product carbon footprint accounting
The invention provides a method, a device, an equipment and a storage medium for accounting product carbon footprint based on ICM. The method comprises: acquiring data of carbon footprint within a predetermined system boundary range on a production line for several times within one period at a predetermined acquisition interval, according to an obtained acquisition instruction, wherein the data of carbon footprint comprises regional development index, utilization rate of green product and recovery rate of recycled material; and accounting the carbon footprint according to the data of carbon footprint and a predetermined accounting formula for carbon footprint, to obtain an amount of carbon emission.Filed by Guangdong Brunp Recycling Technology Co., Ltd, published 2025-04-30.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6490569B1 | System for combining life cycle assessment with activity based costing using a relational database software a… | 115 |
| 2 | CN114596072A | 一种基于煤炭产品的碳足迹计算方法 | 33 |
| 3 | CN115409331A | 一种基于线缆类物资的碳足迹计算方法 | 26 |
| 4 | CN104899673A | 一种生命周期分析和层次分析的产品环境影响评价方法 | 26 |
| 5 | CN117217965A | 全生命周期碳足迹处理方法、装置、存储介质及设备 | 17 |
| 6 | CN116050934A | 一种工业锅炉的产品碳足迹核算方法 | 16 |
| 7 | CN118607785A | 一种电力设备全生命周期产品碳足迹核算方法及系统 | 15 |
| 8 | CN116051129A | 一种基于标识解析和区块链的碳排放核算及追溯的方法 | 15 |
| 9 | CN103577908A | 产品碳足迹盘查方法及系统 | 5 |
| 10 | CN117875543A | 一种基于生命周期评价的结构钢产品碳足迹计算方法 | 4 |
Citation counts accumulate over time and favour older filings; treat them as a signal of influence within this corpus rather than of current commercial relevance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Reading the trend, the citation table and the co-filing pairs together points to a narrow but active corner of carbon-accounting patenting.
Growth arrived late and fast
Filing volume was essentially flat through the late 2010s and only accelerated from around 2022 onward, reaching a peak of 22 families in 2025. That timing lines up with carbon-disclosure regulation tightening globally, not with any single technical breakthrough visible in this dataset.
Filing activity is concentrated in China
China accounts for the large majority of receiving-office filings, with WIPO and the EPO a distant second and third. The US, India and Japan each register only single-digit filings, suggesting most applicants are not yet pursuing broad international protection for this specific claim combination.
An older US filing anchors the citation graph
The most-cited record in this set is a 2000s-era US patent combining LCA with activity-based costing in a relational database, cited 115 times. Its age relative to the rest of the corpus is a reminder that citation counts reward early filings, not necessarily the methods most in use today.
Co-assignment is concentrated in one corporate family
Of the 7 co-assignee pairs identified, the strongest link and two of the next strongest all involve Hunan Brunp or Guangdong Brunp entities, indicating that joint filing in this space is presently driven by one battery-recycling group rather than being a broad industry pattern.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to life cycle assessment and carbon footprint computation, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where momentum sits
The assignee base is led by a battery-recycling corporate family, with a long tail of single-region filers across research institutes, certification bodies and digital-carbon startups.
Hunan Brunp and Guangdong Brunp
These two related entities, together with Hunan Brunp EV Recycling, form the densest co-filing cluster in the dataset, tied to product carbon footprint accounting for recycled battery materials. Latest-year momentum reads as zero for each, consistent with the 2025 peak already having passed and 2026 data still incomplete.
Tianjin Pushun Electric Power Information Technology
This assignee shows a full year-over-year drop to zero in the latest tracked year after prior activity, a pattern consistent with a single burst of filings around grid-linked carbon computation rather than sustained output.
Institutes and certification houses hold isolated claims
Names such as a low-carbon city research institute, an industrial internet research institute, and testing centres for special equipment and customs appear as isolated filers rather than repeat applicants, suggesting standards-adjacent bodies are staking narrow, specific claims rather than building portfolios.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Hunan Brunp Recycling Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Guangdong Brunp Recycling Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Xida Digital Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| UPM Raflatac | 0 | — |
| HUNAN BRUNP EV RECYCLING CO LTD | 0 | — |
| Tianjin Pushun Electric Power Information Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| State Grid Information & Telecommunication Industry Group Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| University of Florida Research Foundation, Inc. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a few concrete next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, portfolio strategy or white-space filing.
Check claim overlap before filing
Any new filing on allocation methods or system-boundary definition should be checked against the Brunp cluster's claims first, since that group holds the densest co-filed claim set in this exact search space.
Run a claim comparison in EurekaTrack the 2025-2026 filing gap
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the apparent drop in 2026 filings is likely a reporting artifact rather than a real slowdown; re-pull this trend in two quarters to confirm.
Set a filing alert in EurekaMap the under-claimed branches
Verification workflows and recycled-material carbon accounting show thin filing density relative to the breadth of the search terms, which is where a first-mover claim is more likely to clear examination cleanly.
Explore white space in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
This dataset tracks 77 patent families filed between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine LCA or product carbon footprint methodology with specific computational claims under G06Q10, G06Q50 or G16Z99 classifications. This is a focused count based on the search terms used, not a count of every LCA-related patent globally, since broader LCA software or pure environmental-science filings outside those IPC codes are excluded. Anyone comparing this figure to another source should check whether the same classification and keyword restrictions were applied.
The most active filer cluster in this dataset is a group of related battery-recycling entities, Hunan Brunp and Guangdong Brunp, along with Hunan Brunp EV Recycling, which together account for the strongest co-assignee pairs identified. Beyond that cluster, filing activity is spread across a long tail of research institutes, certification bodies and smaller technology firms, most with only one or two filings each. No single assignee outside the Brunp cluster shows repeat filing behaviour in this specific claim space.
Filing volume reached 22 in 2025, its highest point in the tracked period, while 2026 shows only 4 filings so far. This is very likely a reporting effect rather than a genuine drop: patent publication typically lags the actual filing date by around 18 months, so 2026 filings are still being published and the year's true total will rise as more records surface. Readers should treat the most recent one to two years in any patent trend as provisional.
China accounts for the large majority of receiving-office filings in this dataset, at 46 out of the tracked total, with WIPO's PCT route and the European Patent Office following at single-digit levels, and the United States, India and Japan each in the low single digits. This concentration suggests that most current filers are prioritising domestic Chinese protection over broad international coverage for this exact claim combination, though PCT filings could still expand into other jurisdictions during their national phase.
EP4546231A1, assigned to Guangdong Brunp Recycling Technology, claims a method and system for accounting product carbon footprint using periodic data acquisition of carbon footprint data, including regional development index, green product utilisation rate and recycled material recovery rate, combined through a predetermined accounting formula. It is specific to an ICM-based accounting approach tied to recycled-material metrics, so it constrains filings that use the same specific input variables and formula structure rather than blocking carbon footprint computation broadly. A freedom-to-operate review should focus on whether a new claim relies on the same combination of acquisition interval, system boundary and recycled-material inputs.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.