Financial Times FT.com

Time for the greening of global trade

By Chandran Nair

Published: November 18 2009 15:43 | Last updated: November 18 2009 15:43

To suggest that free trade is destructive is to invite controversy. But the reality is that free trade must be constrained: it encourages the unrestrained consumption of goods and services, thereby playing a negative environmental role globally.

The conventional wisdom promoted by economists has created the myth that trade naturally contributes to sustainable development by promoting the efficient allocation of resources, economic growth and increased income levels.

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