Climate Change and the WTO: Opportunities to Motivate State Action on Climate Change Through the World Trade Organization

Abstract

This article explores the role of trade in motivating action on climate change, using the specific example of developments within the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The Kyoto Protocol, the Þrst international agreement with legally binding commitments to begin to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, is expected to come into force in 2004. With it, most of the developed world will be committed to modest reduction targets over the next decade. The two largest per capita emitters, the USA and Australia, have so far opted not to join this modest effort to address climate change, and developing countries, while party to the Kyoto process, are so far only engaged in voluntary action to reduce emissions.

Keywords: trade, climate change, WTO