Could carbon credits come back to haunt U.S.?

The U.S. is against carbon credits, at least under the Bush Administration. Even of those countries which have signed the Kyoto Pact, most are not even coming close to meeting their carbon reduction requirements. Yet, many countries are aggressively moving forward. Sure, there is Sweden or the U.K., but even more interesting is Brazil.

"Programs aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions are blossoming in Brazil, with the "carbon credit" system winning interest from companies in industrialized countries." (more)

In the future a country like Brazil could sell carbon credits to companies in the U.S., for example, if they fail to meet some future requirement. More interesting, what if the WTO created some kind of Kyoto-type protocol as a requirement for membership?

Sure such a notion might seem silly today, but global warming could become the biggest human rights issue of our generation. As the world becomes more and more interested in global warming, it becomes more and more easy to point a finger at the U.S. as a major source of the problem.

Why not be a leader instead of a laggard?