LONDON— Greenpeace on Wednesday said the British
government had "lied to the public" after leaked emails seen by the
environmental group appeared to show backtracking on climate commitments to
secure a trade deal with Australia.
اضافة اعلان
In the correspondence, Greenpeace UK said senior ministers
Liz Truss, David Frost and Kwasi Kwarteng "are named as agreeing to ditch
references to the temperature commitments in the Paris Agreement on climate in
order to get the Australian trade deal 'over the line'."
In response, the government insisted it "will not sign
trade deals that compromise our high environmental protections".
Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote to environmental NGOs
promising that any deal with Australia would "include a chapter on trade
and environment which not only reaffirms commitments to multilateral
environmental agreements, including the Paris Agreement, but also commits both
parties to collaborate on climate and environmental issues."
But Greenpeace said "details from the leaked email
demonstrate that what Boris Johnson wrote in that letter was a lie".
"The reality of the government's plans to bulldoze over
the Paris Agreement temperature commitments ... completely undermines trust in
the government as host of the upcoming UN climate summit, COP26," it added.
'Caving in to Australia'
The 12-day event is due to be held in Glasgow in November,
and is seen as a crucial step in global action to set new emissions targets to
prevent runaway climate change.
Australia, however, has refused to adopt a net-zero emissions
target and remains one of the world's largest fossil fuel exporters.
The government maintained that all the deals it was pursuing
"have committed to securing provisions that will help trade in low carbon
goods and services, support research and development, innovation in green
sectors, and maintain our right to regulate in pursuit of
decarbonization."
Britain in June unveiled the major free trade agreement with
Australia, after similar deals with Japan and the European Union following
London's divorce with Brussels.
The deal eliminates tariffs on UK exports to Australia and
on imported Australian goods such as wine, swimwear and confectionery goods.
But John Sauven, executive director of
Greenpeace UK, said
the deal had come at an environmental cost.
"The UK government caving in to Australia over the
climate just adds to a list of issues over this trade deal particularly when it
comes to food and farming," he said.
"Australia still uses hormone growth promoters banned
in the UK in 1998.
"It continues to use 20 pesticides no longer in use
here, including highly toxic neonicotinoids, which are extremely harmful to
bees and other pollinators.
"No food should be imported using methods that are
banned in the UK," he added.
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