It has become increasingly clear that the Kyoto Protocol, even if it comes into effect, will not be an effective instrument to combat global warming. The commitments prescribed for the industrialized countries in the Protocol regarding percentage reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are almost certainly unachievable. Further, no international regime is meaningful in this field without the participation of the United States and major developing countries. It is therefore proposed that an international regime, followed by an example of the WTO/GATT model of tariff reductions, should be considered as an alternative to the Kyoto Protocol as a more viable, flexible and long· lasting framework to cope with the global warming issue. The project is thus intended to be predominantly policy-oriented while at the same time based on the orthodox legal analysis of the international lawmaking process.