Leaked emails have revealed how Australia pressured the UK to remove key climate commitments in order to sign on to its trade deal.
A leaked email has revealed how Australia pressured the UK to drop binding commitments to the Paris climate change agreement from the UK-Australian trade deal.
Sky News reports that the Morrison Government insisted that “a reference to Paris Agreement temperature goals” be removed from the text of the trade deal.
That is in stark contrast from the UK-EU trade deal where temperature commitments are explicitedly laid out and a suspension of the deal is triggered if either side breaches its commitment to the Paris Agreement.
Sky News says the email shows that Liz Truss, the UK trade secretary, and Kwasi Kwarteng, the UK business secretary, decided the government could “drop both of the climate asks” from the deal.
“We haven’t yet seen the formal read out, but we understand the conversation took place and the Business Secretary has agreed that, in order to get the Australia FTA over the line, DIT can drop both of the climate asks (ie on precedence of Multilateral Environmental Agreements over FTA provisions and a reference to Paris Agreement temperature goals.)” the email from the Cabinet Office reads.
The UK government had confirmed to Sky News that the references to temperature are now “implicit”.
The Paris Agreement makes countries set goals in order to limit global warming to well below 2C, preferably to 1.5C.
Australia is a signatory to the Paris Agreement but Prime Minister Scott Morrison has submitted less ambitious targets than some other major nations, although the government insists ultimately on a path to net zero.
While the US, Canada and Japan have new commitments for steeper cuts, Australia will stick to its existing pledge of cutting carbon emissions by 26 per cent-28 per cent below 2005 levels, by 2030.
US President Joe Biden has pledged to cut carbon emissions by 50-52 per cent below 2005 levels by the year 2030. This new target essentially doubles the previous US promise.
The leaked emails are embarrassing for the UK Government given the COP Climate Change summit will be hosted in Glasgow at the end of October.
The email, which was sent last month, comes three months after Boris Johnson and Mr Morrison announced they had come to an in-principle agreement over a trade deal.
Australia’s demands to drop the language around climate targets seem to have come after their handshake.