FURTHER economic globalisation could be the price to pay for reducing global warming. On 21 May, Russian president Vladimir Putin gave his strongest hint yet that Russia would sign up to the Kyoto protocol on climate change if granted membership of the World Trade Organization.
Shortly after the European Union announced that it would now support Russia joining the WTO, Putin promised to “accelerate our efforts to ratify the protocol”. He stopped short of giving a timetable, however. Russia hopes to join the WTO next year but still needs backing from the US and China.
Russia accounts for 17 per…
