At the UN Climate Change Conference COP 25 at IFEMA in Madrid, Argentina’s President, Mauricio Macri, highlighted Argentina’s climate actions over the past four years, and urged world leaders to continue working together for the wellbeing of future generations. “The efforts of any single country are not enough to combat the climatic emergency,” he warned.
“We still have an opportunity to change,” the president said, noting that future societies “will value what we’ve done, and what we haven’t allowed to be done, to build a safer, cleaner and more sustainable planet.”
“Future political leadership must make permanent commitments to our next generations. We know that the future depends on what we do now, it is our responsibility to act,” he said.
The president recalled that one of the first policies undertaken by his government in December 2015 was to sign up to the Paris Agreement. Argentina was also “the first country to submit a review of our Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs),” he said, adding that Argentina has a National Climate Change Cabinet, which bring together local governments, the private sector, workers' representatives, academia and civil society.
“We also have supported the creation of marine protected areas, doubled the surface area of national parks in Argentina, promoted the conservation of ecosystems and reduced emissions in the transport sector,” he said.
With respect to renewable energy, the president highlighted that in 2015, renewable energy (excluding hydroelectric) represented less than 1 percent of national electricity generation, while today, in 2019, it will exceed 8%. “In 2025 we will reach 20 percent, and we project that by 2040, Argentina's electricity generation will be free of greenhouse gas emissions,” he added.
Macri also alluded to the Argentine government’s successful RenovAR national renewable development programme, which has enabled “the development of clean energy in almost every province; with 97 projects under construction and 41 already generating energy for over 900,000 homes nationwide,” he said. One of these projects, Caucharí Solar Park in the province of Jujuy, is the largest of its kind on the South American continent. Containing almost a million solar panels, once fully completed it will generate electricity for 160,000 homes.
“Long-term low emissions will enable us to be more ambitious, with a view to reaching carbon neutrality by 2050,” he said, concluding that Argentina’s climate policies should be looked at together with the long tradition of innovation in the agricultural-livestock production sector, which combine efficiencies in agricultural productivity, industry practices and carbon sequestration.”
On the margins of the COP 25, President Macri met with a number of world leaders, including Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands; President Lenín Moreno of Ecuador; UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres; and Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the IDB.
