Macri: 'Electricity production in Argentina will be be greenhouse gas free by 2040'
President kicks off his last foreign trip as head of state in Madrid at the UN Climate Change Conference, where he meets with world leaders and talks renewable energy.
President Mauricio Macri landed in Madrid yesterday to participate in the 25th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 25), kicking off his farewell tour and last week in office.
In the Spanish capital, the Cambiemos leader spoke about his government’s “vision” for diminishing the country’s carbon footprint, stating that electricity production in Argentina will be “greenhouse-gas-free by 2040”
In his presentation to the conference, Macri explained that Argentina is “working on a strategy for long-term emission reductions” with the aim of carbon neutrality by 2050.
In an evaluation of his four years in office, the president detailed that “renewable energy, excluding hydroelectric, used to only account for only one percent of Argentina’s national electricity production” prior to him taking office.
“This year we surpassed eight percent, and in 2025 we will reach 20 percent, and we project that in 2040, electricity production will be free of greenhouse gas emissions,” the PRO party leader concluded.
Macri was speaking to fellow participating heads of state at Madrid's IFEMA exposition centre, which became the last-minute host of the COP25 summit following violent protests gripped its original host country, Chile. The conference is set to run until December 13.
On the sidelines conference, Macri was received by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte President of Inter-American Development Bank, Luis Alberto Moreno, as well as Argentine actor and Radical Civic Union (UCR) constituent Luis Brandoni, who found himself in Europe on business.
The head of state also attended a banquet hosted by the Kings of Spain, Felipe VI and Letizia, the former of which he met with again this morning privately in the Palacio de la Zarzuela.
He also has a planned meeting with head of the FIFA football federation, Gianni Infantino. Argentina, along with Paraguay and Uruguay, are set to post a joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup.
Among those accompanying Macri in Madrid are the General Secretary to the Presidency Fernando De Andreis; Agro-industry Minister Luis Miguel Etchevehere; Environment and Sustainable Development Secretary Sergio Bergman and Strategic Affairs Secertary Fulvio Pompeo.
The president's final stop in Europe will be in Geneva, Switzerland, where he will meet with World Trade Organisation (WTO) President, Roberto Azevedo, before returning to South America to complete his farewell tour at the Mercosur summit in Brazil, which begins Wednesday.
Over his four years in office, Macri will have completed 46 visits to five continents.
– TIMES/AFP