Emissions profile
The majority of Argentina’s emissions come from the combustion of oil and fossil gas in the energy sector, with total energy sector emissions accounting 52% of Argentina’s total GHG emissions (including LULUCF) in 2016.2 The power and transport sectors are responsible for most energy-related emissions, with each responsible for a 13% share.1 Argentina is a major beef exporter and livestock is responsible for the majority of agricultural emissions (mainly methane), accounting for 35% of 2019 total emissions.1 Current policy projections show that the country is on track to reach 384-407 MtCO₂e by 2030, or 10-17% above 2015 levels, depending on the degree to which renewable energy is scaled up and subsidies for fossil gas are phased out.
1 Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible Argentina. Segunda Contribución Determinada a Nivel Nacional de la República Argentina. UNFCCC, 2020.
2 Climate Action Tracker. Argentina. November 2022 update. Climate Action Tracker. 2022.
3 International Energy Agency (IEA). Argentina Country Profile. 2018.
4 Climate Transparency. BROWN TO GREEN: THE G20 TRANSITION TOWARDS A NET-ZERO EMISSIONS ECONOMY: Argentina. 2019.
5 Climate Action Tracker. Argentina Current Policy Projections. July 2020 update. Climate Action Tracker. 2020.
6 Ministerio de Energía de Argentina. Plan de Acción Nacional de Energía y Cambio Climático [National Action Plan on Energy and Climate Change.] República de Argentina. 2017.
7 El Senado y Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina. Ley 27191: Régimen de Fomento Nacional para el uso de Fuentes Renovables de Energía destinada a la Producción de Energía Eléctrica. Modificación Ley 26190. El Senado y Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina, 2015.
8 Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible. Plan Nacional de Mitigación del sector Transporte – PNMT. 1–83 (2017).
9 Secretaria de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable Argentina. Listado de medidas de mitigación y adaptación a nivel nacional (Contribución Nacional ) Febrero 2019. 2019.
10 República de Argentina. Plan de Acción Nacional de Agro y Cambio Climático. 2019.
11 Climate Action Tracker. Argentina. July 2020 update. Climate Action Tracker. 2020.
12 Congreso de la Nación Argentina. Ley 26.331: LEY DE PRESUPUESTOS MINIMOS DE PROTECCION AMBIENTAL DE LOS BOSQUES NATIVOS. El Senado y Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina, 2007.
13 Bauza, V. A New Dawn: Argentina Taps Into Its Renewable Energy Potential. International Finance Corporation, 2017.
14 Caruana, M. E. C. La energía renovable en Argentina como estrategia de política energética e industrial. Probl. del Desarollo 50, 2019.
15 Secretaria de Energia. Energy Balance Argentina 2019. 2019.
16 IEA. National Program for Rational and Efficient Use of Energy. 2017.
17 Government of Argentina. Argentina. Biennial update report (BUR). BUR 4. Submission to the UNFCCC. 2021.
18 Secretaria de Energia & Presidencia de la Nación. Diagnósticos Energéticos.
19 Secretaria de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable, Ministerio de Produccion y Trabajo & Presidencia de la Nación. Plan de Acción nacional de Industria y Cambio Climático. 2018.
20 Argentina Government. El Senado convirtió en ley el nuevo régimen de biocombustibles. 2021.
21 Diamante, S. Año récord: cuáles son los autos eléctricos e híbridos que lideran el boom de ventas en la Argentina. La Nacion. 2022.
22 Argentina government. Hidrogeno 2030. 2022.
23 Lanfranchi, J. Hidrógeno verde en la Argentina: están demoradas inversiones millonarias por los tiempos de la política. La Nacion. 2022.
24 While global cost-effective pathways assessed by the IPCC Special Report 1.5°C provide useful guidance for an upper-limit of emissions trajectories for developed countries, they underestimate the feasible space for such countries to reach net zero earlier. The current generation of models tend to depend strongly on land-use sinks outside of currently developed countries and include fossil fuel use well beyond the time at which these could be phased out, compared to what is understood from bottom-up approaches. The scientific teams which provide these global pathways constantly improve the technologies represented in their models – and novel CDR technologies are now being included in new studies focused on deep mitigation scenarios meeting the Paris Agreement. A wide assessment database of these new scenarios is not yet available; thus, we rely on available scenarios which focus particularly on BECCS as a net-negative emission technology. Accordingly, we do not yet consider land-sector emissions (LULUCF) and other CDR approaches.
25 This target is in AR4 GWP; Argentina originally expressed their NDC target in SAR GWP of 359 MtCO₂e excl. LULUCF. Mitigations targets are proportional to relevance of each sector, LULUCF emissions were deducted using the percentage of share expected for 2030.
Argentinaʼs current GHG emissions
MtCO₂e/yr
By sector
- Transport
- Industry (energy use)
- Power
- Buildings
- Fugitive emissions
- Other
- Agriculture
- LULUCF
- Industry (processes)
- Waste
By gas
- CO₂
- CH₄
- N₂O
- Other
Sectors by gas
Energy
Agriculture
Industry (processes)
Energy system
Despite the competitive costs of solar and wind technology, Argentina has continued to prioritise fossil gas and nuclear for power generation. However, increasing gas-fired power generation does not lead to the steep reduction in emissions necessary for Argentina to be 1.5°C compatible. Investments need to be redirected towards renewables in order to avoid the creation of stranded assets and lock-in to emissions intensive infrastructure. The most recent data from 2018 shows that renewable energy made up about 13% of Argentina’s total energy supply and only 25% of its power supply in 2019.3,4 To avoid the need for extensive negative emissions in the future, Argentina’s proportion of renewable energy production will need to increase steeply this decade. The government is also developing plans to incentivise the uptake of electric vehicles to reduce fossil fuel use, but the implementation of this policy is slow.5 Meanwhile, the agriculture sector lacks any clear policy framework for emissions reductions.5 Ending fossil fuel subsidies, banning new fossil gas exploration in domestic gas fields, increasing investments in solar and wind power, and increasing spending on expanding electric mobility are some of the opportunities available to decarbonise the energy sector.
Targets and commitments
Economy-wide targets
Target type
NDC target
Unconditional target:
- Absolute emissions target of 316 MtCO₂e/yr by 2030 (excl. LULUCF).25
- 9% below 2015 levels by 2030 (excl. LULUCF).
Market mechanism
- No nationally established carbon credit mechanism, waiting for the finalisation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement for further guidance.1
Long-term target
- Established the goal of reaching carbon neutrality (or net zero CO₂ emissions) in their long-term strategy (LTS) and in their updated NDC (2020).1
Sector coverage
EnergyIndustryWasteAgricultureLULUCFGreenhouse gas coverage
CO₂CH₄NF₃HFCsN₂OSF₆Sectoral targets
Energy
- The National Action Plan for Energy and Climate Change (PNAECC) aims to mitigate a minimum of 77 MtCO₂e by 2030, contributing to Argentina’s NDC. Although it includes removing coal from the energy supply, overall fossil fuel use decreases by only 5% in 2030, from 31% to 26%, due to continued reliance on natural gas.6
- The PNAECC sets a target for non-hydro renewables of 10% of energy supply by 2030.
Waste
- Increase the percentage of recycled materials nationally from 5% to 20% by 2030.9
Agriculture
- The National Action Plan for Agricultural and Climate Change (2019) sets a sectoral mitigation target of roughly 26 MtCO₂e by 2030 (including forests).10
- The plan also calls for additional mitigation to come from the enlargement of cultivated area for corn and wheat instead of soy and providing biomass for combustion in power production.10
LULUCF
- National Plan for the Restoration of Native Forests (Resolution 267/2019) aims to restore 20 million hectares of native forest per year through 2030.6
- The Native Forests Law aims at controlling the reduction of native forest surface by achieving net zero change in forest areas.11,12
- Increase the overall forested area from 1.38 million hectares in 2018 to 2 million hectares by 2030.9
Power
- The PNAECC aims for up to 69% of power supply in 2030 generated from low emission sources, including hydropower, non-hydro renewables, nuclear and thermal generation.6
- Law 27.191, established in 2015, sets a target to reach 20% of power generated by non-hydro renewable sources, such as solar and wind by 2025, and includes financial and market mechanisms to facilitate its upscaling.7
Transport
- The National Plan for Mitigation of the Transport sector (PNMT), authored in 2017, plans for a total reduction of emissions from transport of 47 MtCO₂ by 2030 through combination of low emission vehicles, the promotion of public transport, renovation of truck fleets and the promotion of non-motorised transportation.8
- Many transport targets are focused on the city of Buenos Aires, where almost one-third of the population resides. It has a city-wide target of 1.5% of zero emission private cars and 30% electric buses by 2030.8