Study On The Issue Of The Conflict And Coordination Of International Carbon Emissions Trading And WTO Rules

The Excessive emission of global greenhouse gas emission leads to a series ofenvironmental problems, such as global warming, the rising of sea level and glaciersmelting, etc. In the face of these environmental problems, the requirement in the controlof excessive emissions of greenhouse gases is becoming stronger and stronger.In thiscontext, the carbon emission trading system came into being and the United Nationsframework convention on climate and the Kyoto protocol are its legal basis. Theformation and the operation of the carbon emission trading system limits the conditionof the excessive emission of greenhouse gases to some extent, and it also promotes theinnovation of the emission reduction technology. However, the carbon emission tradingsystem exists a lot of shortcomings. At the same time, the carbon emission tradingsystem is not only a simple international environmental protection regulation, and it alsoinvolves in the field of international trade law. The carbon emission trading rules andthe existing WTO rules exist overlap, which makes the carbon emission trading becomemore and more complicated. The legitimacy of the carbon emission trading is alsoquestioned, especially when its legal attribute is unclear and it is investigated under theexisting rule of WTO rules. Many trade measures which are related to the carbonemission trading is likely to conflict with the WTO rules in the level of concreteoperation. For example, the initial allocation of the carbon emission right is likely toconstitute subsidies; The trade measures which are related to the carbon emissiontrading is likely to violate relevant service terms of the GATS; The limit on theparticipants in the carbon emission trading system which is under the impetus of theprotocol may violate the WTO obligations, etc. All the problems make that theoperation of current carbon emission trading is not optimistic. This paper will focus onthe conflict and the coordination between the carbon emissions trading and the WTOrules, analyse the existing problems, point out the shortages of the current carbonemission right and the WTO rules and give the suggestions finally.The full text consists of about thirty-four thousand words, which is divided intofour parts:The first part is an overview of carbon emission trading. First, it will focus on thebrief analysis of the concept and the legal attribute of carbon emission right; Second, itwill explain the definition and the legal relationship of carbon emission trading. Finally,it will introduce the pattern of carbon emission trading. The second part is the main content of international carbon emission tradingmechanism. It includes: the background, main content and operation rules of the Kyotocarbon emission trading mechanism; The main content and evaluation of the EU’scarbon emission trading mechanism; The content and legal evaluation of Americancarbon emission trading mechanism.The third part is the analysis of the conflict between the carbon emission tradingand the WTO rules, including carbon emission trading and the GATT; Carbon emissiontrading and GATS; Carbon emission trading and SMC.The fourth part is mainly the coordination of carbon emission trading and the WTOrules, including the cause of conflict; The analysis of the necessity of the coordination;The coordination scheme.