Argentina submitted its second Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) on 29 December 2020. It includes an unconditional absolute emissions reduction target, limiting emissions to 359 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year by 2030, including land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) emissions, and reducing the emission targets by 27.7% compared with the first NDC. Argentina aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
The country established a National Climate Change Cabinet to implement the National Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Plan and ensure inter-ministerial coordination on its implementation. Sectoral working groups were also set up, aimed at achieving the commitments made in the first NDC in 2016 and then updating the commitments in the second NDC, plus developing the country’s long-term strategy (LTS) for climate change.
Argentina has adopted several climate change-related actions, such as the introduction of a biofuels law in 2021 that set new mandatory percentages of biofuels to be included in blends with fossil fuels. It has also passed legislation that increases the use of renewable energy in the national energy mix over time, and implemented a carbon tax.
The EU’s work in Argentina, supported by SPIPA, has focused on the LULUCF sector and specifically supported LULUCF scenario modelling activities in the context of the Argentinian long-term strategy. This was complemented by support for the compilation of greenhouse gas emission inventories, again focusing on this sector.
SPIPA’s highly demanded and recognised technical input for Argentina’s LTS development could be extended to other sectors in the future. The Programme also provided the opportunity to maintain open communication channels between the EU and Argentina on climate action. Exchanges on areas of further potential collaboration took place in 2020 and 2021.
Business and Net-zero Transformation
Long-term Strategies