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Argentina Sectors

What is Argentinaʼs pathway to limit global warming to 1.5°C?

The buildings sector in Argentina represents less than 10% of the nation’s total emissions. According to the latest Biennial Update Report submitted to the UNFCCC in 2021, emissions have doubled since 1990, and the sector currently represents 25% of energy demand. Historically, gas has occupied more than a 30% share.

To achieve a 1.5°C compatible decarbonisation of the sector before 2050, electricity’s share of buildings energy demand should more than double from its 2019 level of 35% to 77-79% by 2040 and fossil gas use should be all but eliminated by the same date.

As a post-COVID recovery measure, the government has earmarked about USD 1.4 billion for the construction and refurbishment of public buildings, hotels and schools. However, this measure has no specific sustainability requirements or energy guidelines.

The government has also established the National Programme for a Rational and Efficient Use of Energy (PRONUREE), but this will not be sufficient to decarbonise the sector.16

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 energy mix in the buildings sector

petajoule per year

Scaling
SSP1 Low CDR reliance
20192030204020501 0001 500
SSP1 High CDR reliance
20192030204020501 0001 500
Low energy demand
20192030204020501 0001 500
High energy demand - Low CDR reliance
20192030204020501 0001 500
  • Natural gas
  • Coal
  • Oil and e-fuels
  • Biofuel
  • Biogas
  • Biomass
  • Hydrogen
  • Electricity
  • Heat

Argentinaʼs buildings sector direct CO₂ emissions (of energy demand)

MtCO₂/yr

Unit
510152025303519902010203020502070
  • Historical emissions
  • SSP1 High CDR reliance
  • SSP1 Low CDR reliance
  • High energy demand - Low CDR reliance
  • Low energy demand

1.5°C compatible buildings sector benchmarks

Direct CO₂ emissions and shares of electricity, heat and biomass in the buildings final energy demand from illustrative 1.5°C pathways for Argentina

Indicator
2019
2030
2040
2050
Decarbonised buildings sector by
Direct CO₂ emissions
MtCO₂/yr
27
10 to 20
0 to 8
0 to 1
2034 to 2049
Relative to reference year in %
−64 to −26%
−99 to −71%
−100 to −95%
Indicator
2019
2030
2040
2050
Share of electricity
Percent
35
54 to 71
77 to 79
87 to 88
Share of heat
Percent
0
0
0 to 1
1 to 2
Share of hydrogen
Percent
0
0
0
0

Footnotes