Argentina hasn’t confirmed whether it will attend COP30 summit

Argentina hasn’t registered to attend the COP30 climate summit, according to people familiar with the matter, suggesting the country may join the United States in sitting out the annual United Nations-sponsored talks that start in Brazil later this week.

The White House said last week that no high-level US officials will be going to the conference in the city of Belém. Almost 190 countries have confirmed their intent to send representatives, COP President André Corrêa do Lago said on Monday. 

Argentina’s government didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

At the COP29 summit in Azerbaijan last year, Argentina's President Javier Milei abruptly pulled all of his negotiators out in the middle of the talks, raising speculation that Argentina could follow the US out of the landmark Paris Agreement, which commits countries to keeping global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. So far Argentina has stayed in, but Milei and US President Donald Trump remain close allies. 

Like Trump, Milei has derided concerns about global warming. The libertarian leader has, however, welcomed clean energy investments in Argentina, and his administration has granted tax breaks and other incentives to wind and solar projects.

Last year, he launched a project with fellow Argentine Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to use nuclear technology in Antarctica to limit plastic pollution.