Argentina quits COP29 negotiations

Argentinian President Javier Milei, who is a climate change denier, has ordered his negotiators to withdraw from the 29th Conference of Parties or COP29 negotiations at Baku, Azerbaijan. This has cast a shadow on the 2015 Paris Accords, which already face the misgivings of US President-elect Donald Trump.

It may be mentioned here that Milei, like Trump, is a Rightist leader. In fact, it was Milei’s model of downsizing government that Trump has adopted by constituting a new ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ or DOGE. Businesspersons Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will head DOGE. In January, Musk praised Milei on X.

Argentina’s exit will be tough on the 2015 Paris Accords. The country has more than 80 representatives at the climate summit in Baku.

Argentina’s Undersecretary for Environment Ana Lamas, the senior most representative from the department, has confirmed that the delegation has been directed to leave Baku. “It is true. We have instructions from the ministry of foreign affairs to no longer participate. That’s all I can tell you,” she told a newspaper.

She, though, pointed out that the decision only applied to COP and not the Paris Agreement.

The decision, while depressing to the climate change activists, did not come as a surprise. Since taking charge last year, Milei has made his position very clear on the subject. He regards climate change a “socialist lie”.

At the UN General Assembly in September, he slammed the 2030 sustainable development agenda as “a supranational programme of a socialist nature.”