The European Union wants Australia’s Paris climate commitments enshrined in new FTA

The European Union will push Australia to clean up its petrol standards – which currently allow for dirtier fuel than India and China – as part of negotiations on a new free trade agreement.

As the EU and Australia prepare for the next round of FTA negotiations in October, Guardian Australia understands the issue of Australia’s poor fuel quality, which prevents the sale of a range of European vehicles with higher standard engines, has already been raised at a bureaucratic level as a “technical barrier to trade”.