This article examines the legal framework governing subsidies. It scrutinizes the manner in which green subsidies are treated under the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measure (ASCM). The main issue of the current system is that subsidies cannot be justified by a policy rationale. This paper then discusses some of the proposals made for the amendment of ASCM in order to provide states with sufficient policy space. This article examines the question of whether international climate change obligations are jus cogens norms, before ending with concluding remarks.