Change in 1992, negotiators from over 50 countries successfully shepherded the Kyoto Protocol to fruition in 1997 — thus formally inaugurating the modern era of international climate policy, with its focus on national contributions toward global emissions reduction targets.

What the climate negotiators of the 1990s did not know at the time was that a parallel and simultaneous set of global trade agreements would create a glaring loophole in their efforts to contain the carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change. The formation of the World Trade Organization in 1995 opened the valves of global trade and ushered many new producers into the modern global economy, bringing prosperity and modernity to hundreds of millions of people. But it also set off a surge in carbon emissions.

Source: Opinion | The glaring loophole in our climate policies