There are growing concerns that Argentina’s far-right President Javier Milei is about to announce his country’s exit from the Paris climate accord.
Earlier this week, Milei government negotiators were ordered to leave the Cop29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, after just three days. Now the Guardian understands that Milei is considering announcing a formal withdrawal from the agreement, and that a decision could be made after a formal meeting with Donald Trump.
On Thursday, Milei, a prolific climate science denier, became the first world leader to meet Trump after his election at his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, where the Argentine president took photos with newly elected US President Elon Musk and Robert F Kennedy Jr . before delivering a keynote address. On Friday, Milei attended an investor conference hosted by the Conservative Political Action Conference at Trump’s residence in Palm Beach.
Milei has previously called the climate crisis a “socialist lie” and promised during last year’s campaign to withdraw Argentina from the Paris accord to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, but subsequently pulled out. Trump has already promised for the second time to withdraw the US from the climate agreement after withdrawing in 2016, when no other country followed suit.
Trump is expected to initiate a second US withdrawal shortly after he is sworn in as US president on January 20. Its allies are pushing for a more permanent U.S. exit from the Paris deal, and possibly even from the underlying United Nations climate framework.
“President Trump can certainly announce his intention to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement, but he should go a step further and submit the treaty to the Senate, which should have happened in the first place,” Tom said Pyle. president of the conservative American Energy Alliance
“Let the Senate decide once and for all whether the US should be a party to Paris.”
Gerardo Werthein, Argentina’s foreign minister, told the New York Times that his country was “reevaluating our strategy on all matters related to climate change.”
Observers said Argentina’s potential departure would face strong domestic opposition. Oscar Soria, the Argentine director of the think tank Common Initiative, said: “Milei’s environmental policies are driven by ideological biases that contradict science and international law. “Its anti-Agenda 2030 framework, fueled by disinformation and extremist doctrines, is a dangerous cocktail that is already affecting – and will continue to affect – the well-being of Argentinians,” he said.
“There is growing concern about the possibility of Argentina leaving the Paris Agreement. However, such a step will not be easy to implement. Milei cannot withdraw from the Paris Agreement with the stroke of a pen. For this he needs the approval of the Argentine parliament. Argentina ratified the Paris Agreement in 2016, and all international treaties ratified by the country have constitutional status,” he said.
In the coming days, Emmanuel Macron is expected to meet with Milei in Buenos Aires ahead of the G20 summit in Brazil, amid tensions between the EU and South America over a possible trade deal between the EU and the Mercosur bloc.
“Global climate action will continue, with or without Argentina. This was proven in the case of the United States when Trump decided to leave the Paris Agreement in 2017. Many far-right leaders have previously underestimated the Paris Agreement. This group seems destined to do the same,” Soria said.
