Boris Johnson ‘providing cover to Australia at COP26’, Labour says

Labour pushes for free trade deal with Australia to be amended and tied to tighter environmental standards as UK PM accused of ‘guileless boosterism’.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he speaks during a press conference in London. Picture: Getty Images

The British Labour Party has called for the UK-Australia free trade deal to be tied to tighter environmental standards, accusing Boris Johnson of “providing cover” to coal-reliant nations at the COP26 conference.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told the House of Commons overnight (AEDT) that Mr Johnson’s “guileless boosterism” had enabled major emitters to “gut the main deal wording on coal”, leaving the UK with little chance of exerting influence to secure better environmental outcomes.

“The prime minister praised inadequate net zero plans. Australia was called heroic, even though their plan was so slow that it was in line with 4 degrees of global warming,” Mr Starmer said.

“With no public pressure, the big emitters were emboldened and they clubbed together to gut the main deal’s wording on coal. Only someone who thinks words are meaningless could now argue that an agreement to phase down coal is the same as an agreement to phase it out.’’

Shadow trade minister Bill Esterson referred to the UK-Australia trade deal – which has been agreed but is yet to be formally signed – by tweeting: “Will Boris Johnson correct the mistake of a trade deal with Australia which drops the commitment to a maximum temperature of 1.5 degrees?”

Will Boris Johnson correct the mistake of a trade deal with Australia which drops the commitment to a maximum temperature of 1.5 degrees? @Keir_Starmer

— Bill Esterson (@Bill_Esterson) November 15, 2021

In negotiations over the free trade deal, the UK had initially sought to link the trade with carbon emission plans, but those provisions were removed after push-back from Australia.

In the Commons, Labour MP Darren Jones – who chairs the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial strategy committee – raised the same issue, asking Mr Johnson would revisit the free trade deal to pressure Australia on emissions reductions.

But Mr Johnson said Australia had made its first ever commitment to net zero and that COP26 was a considerable success.

Last weekend, Australia signed the COP26 main statement, called the Glasgow Climate Pact, to phase down coal and return to the next COP27 in Egypt in 12 months’ time with another plan to reduce emissions in this decade.

Australian ministers hailed the wording of “phasing out” coal to mean that no Australian mines would close and that coal would remain a key export for years to come.

Energy Minister Angus Taylor also said he would not update the target to reduce emissions by more than 26-28 per cent, even though Australia was on track to exceed it up to 35 per cent.

“We have set our target, we don’t reset our targets,” Mr Taylor said.

European energy think tank E3G told the Foreign Press Association on Monday that Australia was heading into an economic cul-de-sac with its current pro-coal plans.