Fernández: Argentina will cut greenhouse gas emissions 26% by 2030

President Alberto Fernández has reaffirmed Argentina’s commitment to the Paris Agreement, announcing that he is extended the country's goal regarding the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

"Argentina reaffirms its commitment to the Paris Agreement and adopts climate change as a state policy," said the president in a brief address to last week’s Climate Ambition Summit, which marked the fifth anniversary of signing of the accord.

"Argentina will present, with a view to 2030, a goal that will limit its greenhouse gas emissions to a level of almost 26 percent," Fernández declared.

In 2015, the government of former president Mauricio Macri had said Argentina would seek to reduce emissions by 15 percent, setting a target of 2030 for the cut to be in place. Fernández’s announcement extends that goal to 25.7 percent.

The Frente de Todos leader promised Argentina would present a "long-term, low-emission development strategy with the goal of achieving carbon-neutral development by 2050" in the future.

"Climate change is a reality that is affecting humanity as a whole and that requires immediate and coordinated action from leaders around the world," said the Peronist leader.

"Our country pays a high price regarding the impact of climate change on its territory and on its social and productive structure," he said, adding that US$15 billion had been dedicated to mitigation and adaptation efforts, thanks to international financing.

"This is ambitious but insufficient," the president argued, saying that efforts to tackle climate change required "greater commitment and cooperation on the part of the most developed countries.”

"The world's reconstruction in the post-pandemic era is the opportunity we have to advance in this sense, where international cooperation and multilateralism play leading roles," he stated.

Fernández assured that his government is working to develop "a clear and ambitious National Adaptation and Mitigation Plan” to deal with the effects of climate change and called on all nations to “assume historical responsibility” and create “a better world” that was “environmentally sustainable, innovative, supportive and inclusive."

– TIMES/AFP