« Financial competitiveness according to Paulson | Main | What is the Dems agenda »
November 21, 2006
Patenting greenhouse gas exchanges
In a couple of earlier postings, I talked about greenhouse gas trading as a new financial innovation. Now, according to Bloomberg.com: News:
Fannie Mae, the biggest U.S. mortgage finance company, won a patent for a system to trade greenhouse gas-reduction credits earned by homeowners, securing a foothold in a $22 billion market while raising concerns that the government-chartered company is overstepping its mission.
Ousted Chief Executive Franklin Raines is listed in the patent as an inventor of a system for verifying cuts in household emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The patent, granted on Nov. 7 and held jointly with a subsidiary of New York-based Cantor Fitzgerald LP, gives Fannie Mae proprietary control over a method for pooling and selling credits to companies that can't meet emission reduction targets.
However, because of the concern over mission-creep, it is unclear what will happen to the patent:
Corinne Russell, a spokeswoman for the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight that regulators Fannie Mae, said the agency is reviewing the patent and wouldn't comment further.
It is also unclear what the immediate effect of this business process patent might have on ongoing greenhouse gas exchanges -- especially overseas. Given that this trading market has existed for some time, it will be interesting to see exactly what technique Fannie Mae has patented, whether they will try to enforce their patent, and whether the regulators will let them even try.
Posted by Ken Jarboe at November 21, 2006 5:46 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.athenaalliance.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1001