Quarrel over climate weighs on EU-UK talks, risks trade rifts
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Britain’s refusal to seal climate commitments in a new deal with the European Union to govern relations after Brexit has become a block in their deadlocked talks and raises the risk of trade disputes.
While Britain has joined the global Paris agreement to fight climate change and has its own ambitious emissions-cutting goals, London has refused to make binding commitments in the euro area in the new deal it is seeking with the EU from 2021.
“This creates big problems with the level playing field and is increasingly politically sensitive in the EU,” said an official from the bloc.
Britain has a legally binding target to reduce its net greenhouse-gas emissions to zero by 2050. The EU Executive Commission wants to set the same goal for the bloc, although it has yet to secure the support of all member states.
Yet their fight over climate provisions in the new deal reflects fundamental differences about the nature of their future relationship.
“The EU is trying to put this into the trade deal in another example of how it is seeking to continue influencing domestic UK policies,” said a British official.
London wants to break away from the EU’s orbit and prefers a trimmed-down deal.
The “level playing field” – extensive guarantees of fair competition, including labor and climate standards and state aid – is a key EU demand in the talks with Britain. Brussels fears that UK imports could otherwise undercut the EU’s cherished single market.
The rift raises the possibility of future trade disputes over climate, as Brussels has pledged to impose carbon border costs on imports from countries with less stringent climate policies than its own.
Britain formally left the EU in January and is now in a status-quo transition period until December. The two sides have given themselves until the end of June to assess progress in the talks, now largely stalled, on their new relationship.