Is Argentina's Milei On Brink Of Leaving Paris Climate Accord?

Argentina's abrupt snub of COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan has raised alarm that President Javier Milei -- an ally to US President-elect Donald Trump -- could be looking at pulling out of the Paris accord.

Such a move would align Milei's climate change skepticism with the position held by Trump -- and deal a blow to the 2015 international agreement that aims to curb global warming.

"If Milei's government decides to exit the Paris Agreement, we would be faced with huge legal and constitutional implications," said Maximiliano Ferraro, an Argentine lawmaker with the opposition Civic Coalition.

Already, Milei -- a populist who has taken radical measures to cut inflation at home -- has downgraded his environment ministry to a sub-secretariat and eliminated a fund for the protection of native forests.

Argentina's delegation expected at the COP29, the UN climate talks happening in Azerbaijan this week, suddenly pulled out, an environment ministry source confirmed, without giving details behind the decision.

Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein told The Washington Post that "we are reevaluating our strategy on all climate-change-related issues" but added that Buenos Aires had not made a decision at this time to leave the Paris accord.

On Thursday, Milei attended a gala at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, alongside the world's richest man Elon Musk. At the event, Milei hailed Trump's "greatest political comeback in history."

Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement in 2017, during his first time as president.

Current US President Joe Biden brought his country back into it in 2021, but Trump has vowed to reverse that order when he takes over the White House in January.

On Monday and Tuesday, Biden and Milei will attend a G20 summit in Brazil that will discuss international efforts to limit climate change, but the US leader is seen as a lame duck leader at the gathering.

Greenpeace Argentina said the country's withdrawal from the Azerbaijan talks was a "bad signal."

Ferraro, the opposition lawmaker, said if an exit from the Paris Agreement followed, "we would be entering a foggy path of isolation."

Milei has a record of putting environmental considerations well below economic ones.

In June, he stated: "Nature must serve humans and their wellbeing, not the other way around."

He added that "the main environmental problem we have is extreme poverty, and that is only solved if we use our resources."

Oscar Soria, head of The Common Initiative, a New York-based group campaigning for financial reform to promote biodiversity, told AFP "there is a growing concern about the possibility that Argentina exits the Paris Agreement."

But he pointed out that such a move "cannot be done by a simple decree" -- it would require approval by the Argentine Congress.

Argentina ratified the Paris accord in 2016, meaning any change would enter constitutional territory.

It would also run counter to "solid legislation on climate action" in the country, Soria said.

"If he goes there, we are ready for a legal battle."

Soria added that "with or without Argentina, global climate action will continue. That was shown in the United States when Donald Trump took the decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement in 2017. A lot of extreme-right leaders have underestimated the Paris Agreement."

Guillermo Folguera, a biologist at Argentina's National Scientific and Technical Research Council, said there was hope that NGOs could curb government policies that look at the environment "only as a way to generate assets and not as a space for life."

Ferraro suggested that Milei's moves could be a way to ingratiate himself with Trump.

"I wonder if it's just a show put on by President Milei to offer this up as a sacrificial ritual in his get-together with US President-elect Donald Trump?"