  Technologies can help strengthen the resilience of our economy against
existential climate-risks. We investigate climate change adaptation
technologies (CCATs) in US patents to understand (1) historical patterns and
drivers of innovation; (2) scientific and technological requirements to develop
and use CCATs; and (3) CCATs' potential technological synergies with
mitigation. First, in contrast to mitigation, innovation in CCATs only slowly
takes off, indicating a relatively low awareness of investors for solutions to
cope with climate risks. Historical trends in environmental regulation, energy
prices, and public support can be associated with patenting in CCATs. Second,
CCATs form two main clusters: science-intensive ones in agriculture, health,
and monitoring technologies; and engineering-intensive ones in coastal, water,
and infrastructure technologies. Analyses of technology-specific scientific and
technological knowledge bases inform directions for how to facilitate
advancement, transfer and use of CCATs. Lastly, CCATs show strong technological
complementarities with mitigation as more than 25% of CCATs bear mitigation
benefits. While not judging about the complementarity of mitigation and
adaptation in general, our results suggest how policymakers can harness these
technological synergies to achieve both goals simultaneously.
