“Killing goats to appease the volcano gods.” This is how former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott described efforts to combat climate change in a 2017 lecture delivered in London. He also reassured his audience at the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a climate-sceptic think tank, that climate change is “probably doing good”, and that the “so-called ‘settled’ science of climate change” was “absolute crap”.
Since then however, Abbott has been busy. The UK is on the verge of signing its first major free trade agreement with Australia. The deal is being hailed as a symbol of post-Brexit success, even though the Department for International Trade itself admits it will deliver limited economic benefits. As one of international trade secretary Liz Truss’s most controversial advisers on the newly established UK Board of Trade, Abbott has played a significant role.
The timing of the UK-Australia deal could not be more embarrassing for a government that hopes to lead the world in combatting climate change. This week the UK hosts the G7 meeting in Cornwall, and in November Glasgow will host the COP26 climate summit. But it’s clear that the Australia trade deal is fundamentally at odds with the UK’s commitments to reduce emissions by 68% by 2030, and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
