International Trade Law And The Kyoto Protocol: Potential Conflicts

Climate change has come to be seen as a major global environmental challenge. Early environmental treaties make little mention of potential incompatibilities with international trade rules. However, the growing realization that trade and environment are inextricably linked has forced policy makers to address potential problems of overlap and conflict between the burgeoning regimes of nascent law in these two areas. The Parties of the the Kyoto Protocol before adopting specific rules, to consider the incompatibilities with international trade that could arise, and on this basis to draft a coherent and balanced agreement which is compatible with and complementary to existing international legal regimes. The preamble of the WTO agreement explicitly recognizes that trade must take into consideration the goals of environmental protection and sustainable development. At the same time, a new Committee on Trade and the Environment (CTE) was created with the mandate of assessing the role of the WTO in environmental matters.The Kyoto Protocol could be seen as a trade treaty. In reaching their emission targets, Annex B Parties are given the flexibility to use different implementation methodologies. In reaching their emission targets, The Kyoto Protocol support the flexibility to use different implementation methodologies. The first method is through adopting specific domestic policies and measures (PAMS). The second method of implementation is through what are known as 'flexible mechanisms'. The domestic policies and measures may in conflicts with WTO principles like most-favoured-nation(MFN) or National Treatment principle(NT). With the effective of the Kyoto Protocol, the conflict between the Kyoto Protocol and WTO will not be avoided, but the harmonization is necessary and conceivable. This article analyses the conflict and coherence between the two regimes.The frame of this article is as follows: The first chapter introduces the conflict and the mutual infection between Trading and environmental protection. So lay the foundation of the father analysis. The second chapter analyses 5 specific domestic policies and measures which may conflict with WTO laws. The third chapter introduces the potential conflict between flexible mechanisms and WTO laws. The fourth chapter introduced the dispute resolution under the Kyoto Protocol, there have to settle the chose when conflict happens. The last part of this article analyses the co-operation and coherence between the two regimes in the future.