GWPF welcomes Boris Johnson's U-turn on carbon border taxes

The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF) has welcomed the UK government's  apparent realisation that its planned carbon border tax poses a serious threat to the international trading system and the Western alliance.

According to media reports, the government is concerned about the risk of imposing unilateral carbon border taxes in the absence of a multilateral agreement. 

This development is a radical departure from earlier reports which suggested that Boris Johnson was considering to forge a G7 agreement on carbon border taxes.

In light of the government's reconsideration, it is no surprise that the idea was not mentioned once in yesterday's G7 Leader's statement. 

Benny Peiser, the GWPF director, welcomed the government's new realism:

Boris Johnson's apparent U-turn reflects the fact that the G7 is desperately trying to strengthen the Western alliance by inviting India, Australia and South Korea to its June meeting."

It is becoming obvious that Britain's G7 presidency - and any hopes for free trade agreements -- would end in utter failure if core allies and much of the developing world would be threatened with a carbon border tax."

It would appear that the government is now sending out a clear message that unilateral carbon border taxes are a serious threat to the international trading system and the Western alliance as such."