LONDON, Sept 9, 2021 (BSS/AFP) - Greenpeace has accused the British
government of lying 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.

  In the correspondence, Greenpeace UK on Wednesday 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 UK 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 decarbonisation".

  While not directly addressing the climate claims, Australia's trade
minister Dan Tehan said the free trade agreement with the UK would "include
commitments relating to a number of environment issues".

  "Australia has remained consistent that all our FTAs should focus on
international co-operation and meeting existing multilateral environment
commitments," he said in a statement.

  Tehan added that the two nations have agreed to work together on emissions
reduction research and development in areas such as clean hydrogen, small
modular reactors, and carbon capture technologies.

  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.