Following the US exit from the Paris climate agreement in January, Argentina’s government, under President Javier Milei, is evaluating whether to follow suit – but analysts say leaving the global accord would be legally tricky and could damage relations with some of the country’s key trading partners and donors.
Earlier this month, right-wing populist leader Milei told French news magazine Le Point he was considering quitting the Paris pact “because I do not adhere to the environmentalist agenda”.
Milei campaigned on a ticket of climate change denialism, has supported major oil and gas projects and cut the environment ministry’s budget by almost half. He also pulled Argentina’s negotiating team out of the COP29 climate conference in Baku last year.
On February 5, the same day the president’s comments were published, his spokesman Manuel Adorni told journalists that Argentina was mulling a withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, but no decision had been taken at that point.
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For the past year, even before Trump announced he would pull the US out of the Paris pact, Milei’s administration has been considering the implications of such a move. But analysts warn that doing so could hurt trade relations with close partners like China and the European Union (EU), and cripple climate finance flows into the country.
Experts also told Climate Home Milei would need to follow due process by seeking parliamentary approval for a withdrawal.
Congressional hurdle
On his first day in office on January 20, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order to kick-start the one-year process of pulling the US out of the Paris Agreement – the same way former President Barack Obama joined the accord. But Argentina is a different story.
The Latin American nation ratified the 2015 climate agreement through a law approved by Congress, which means that Milei would need to follow the same route to leave it.
“It was approved as an integration treaty, with a status below human rights treaties and above general laws,” said Andrés Nápoli, executive director of the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (FARN).
“If (Milei) does not go through Congress and decides to adopt the decision unilaterally, (he) would be committing a crime,” Nápoli told Climate Home.
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Despite lacking a majority in both legislative chambers, Milei managed to negotiate his way through his first year in office, but a Paris Agreement exit might be more complex, as the low-carbon transition represents an economic opportunity for several provinces.
Argentina’s recently appointed new undersecretary of environment, Fernando Jorge Brom – a business consultant with no experience in the sector – is yet to reveal his climate agenda, including his stance on the Paris Agreement, according to local NGOs. His predecessor, Ana Lamas, resigned two weeks ago “because of personal reasons due to exhaustion”.
Trade partners back Paris
The EU is Argentina’s third-largest trade partner, with food products like soy and peanuts being the main exports. Its biggest trade partner is Brazil, the host of this year’s COP30 climate summit.
Last December, the renegotiation of the commercial agreement between the EU and Mercosur – a trade bloc that includes Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay – included a new article citing the Paris Agreement as an essential element.
“Recognizing the role of trade in contributing to the response to the urgent threat of climate change, each party shall remain a party, in good faith, of the UNFCCC and its Paris Agreement,” states a key clause in the text.
If Argentina were to leave the climate accord, the trade deal with the EU would be partially or totally suspended, according to its terms. It would also isolate the country from the rest of the Mercosur members, which could remain in the agreement.
The updated EU-Mercosur agreement still needs to be reviewed by legal teams and approved by respective parliaments.
Argentina’s second trading partner is China. Last month, in response to the US decision to leave the Paris Agreement, Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said, “China’s resolve and actions to actively respond to climate change will remain unchanged,” adding that “China will work with all parties to actively address the climate challenge and promote a global green and low-carbon transition.”
Finance needs
For the past two decades, Argentina has been struggling with economic instability, macroeconomic imbalances and a stratospheric inflation rate. More recently, climate impacts resulted in a production loss of 50 million tonnes of cereal crops between 2022 and 2023 due to a record drought.
Remaining in the Paris climate pact would allow Argentina to use the treaty as a framework to channel investments, said Enrique Maurtua Konstantinidis, an Argentinian climate policy analyst and consultant.
“It gives [Buenos Aires] access to adaptation funds, capacity building programmes and international cooperation for the development of projects aligned with climate action that contribute to a country’s infrastructure and society,” he explained.
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Of the 72 projects the World Bank approved for Argentina in the last decade, 23 were directly linked to policies to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change.
The Inter-American Development Bank has also financed projects supporting the emergency response to floods in Corrientes and Entre Ríos provinces, as well as forest fires in Córdoba.
IMF indifference?
In 2018, Mauricio Macri’s government contracted debt with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of $44 billion, making it the largest disbursement in the fund’s history at the time.
In 2022, Argentina and the IMF agreed an extension to pay back the debt over 10 years. In December 2024, the interest part of the loan for the first two years was paid. Now Milei’s government is seeking to negotiate a debt restructuring of the same loan, which could include climate considerations.
“The IMF has an important role to play in helping its members institute fiscal and macroeconomic policies to help address these climate-related challenges,” the fund says on its website, adding that “climate considerations are now embedded in their bilateral and multilateral surveillance, capacity development, and lending.”
In the 2022 agreement, the objectives set for Argentina included three specific climate policies: a new electric mobility law, a “Green Productive Development Plan” to boost green skills and the circular economy, and a stronger environmental perspective in the national budget.
Yet those are not mandatory conditions to access funds, said Mercedes D’Alessandro, analyst and former director of economy, equality and gender at the Ministry of Economy in the previous administration.
“For the debt restructuring sought by Milei’s government, the [IMF] might have a deeper interest in macroeconomic goals,” said D’Alessandro.
In a recent evaluation, the IMF drew attention to certain commitments in Argentina’s 2022 programme of policy objectives that were not met – among them gender goals – but not climate policies.
“Climate change is not on the IMF’s agenda of priorities – or not specifically with Argentina,” D’Alessandro told Climate Home.
While that may be the case with the country’s individual fiscal situation, Maurtua Konstantinidis warned that snubbing the international climate regime could shut Argentina out of a broader global effort – now gathering pace – to ease the high debt burdens of many developing countries so they can spend more on climate action.
“At a time when there are talks of reforms to the financial system in pursuit of a more sustainable and fair future, staying outside of these spaces means losing opportunities for the future – opportunities that a country like Argentina needs,” he added.
The post Risk of financial fallout could deter Argentina from leaving Paris Agreement appeared first on Climate Home News.
Risk of financial fallout may deter Argentina from leaving Paris Agreement
An Lambrechts is a biodiversity politics expert at Greenpeace International with extensive experience in biodiversity-related multilateral negotiations. She is the head of the Greenpeace delegation at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP17 happening in Yerevan, Armenia.
In 2022, COP15 delivered the landmark Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. With COP17 starting in Yerevan, we are now halfway to the deadline, and according to the first Global Review of progress, countries are not on track to meet the biodiversity targets, and implementation must accelerate fast.
One of the main findings of the Global Review is that funding falls far short of the scale needed to halt and reverse nature loss. But the crisis facing the world’s biodiversity is not an absolute scarcity of capital – it is a profound public policy distortion.
The global economy currently spends roughly $30 destroying nature for every single dollar invested in its protection. According to a report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, a staggering $2.4 trillion is spent in public subsidies for fossil fuels, agriculture and water use, while global investment in biodiversity conservation and restoration stands at a mere $220 billion.
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Yet, discussions about how to close the biodiversity finance gap continue to claim that salvation lies in mobilising private capital, scaling offsets and “derisking” investments in nature. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of both the nature of ecological stewardship and of the global financial architecture.
Biodiversity conservation is not a speculative investment portfolio – it is the foundation of human survival. The health of our planet is a non-monetisable, non-excludable public good. Expecting profit-seeking private capital to protect nature perpetuates the structural drivers of ecosystem destruction in the first place.
But if private market mechanisms cannot save biodiversity, where will the necessary public resources come from?
Money going to the wrong places
The answer lies in recovering the vast public wealth currently drained by cross-border tax abuse, financial secrecy and corporate impunity. Finance and environment ministers meeting in Yerevan must give a strong political signal that, to avert ecological breakdown, countries need to take swift action to reform global tax rules, eliminate harmful public subsidies and cancel unsustainable sovereign debts for the public revenues to end up where they belong.
Extractive sectors such as industrial agriculture, fishing, timber and mining continue business-as-usual, often heavily subsidised by public treasuries, while voluntary carbon and biodiversity offset markets pose a serious risk to nature conservation. Offset schemes have delivered only a negligible fraction of the funding needed to preserve ecosystems, allowing industries to continue with their destructive business-as-usual practices.
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In advanced economies, public funding often actively undermines biodiversity. In Europe, over €5.3 billion in public subsidies is funnelled annually into intensive forest biomass harvesting under renewable energy directives, degrading primary forest ecosystems and undermining long-term climate resilience. Pleading with private investors to fill a “finance gap” while pouring billions into ecological destruction is an exercise in futility.
Developing countries struggle with debt burden
For developing countries, reliance on private finance is further compounded by a crushing sovereign debt crisis. In 2024, public debt in developing economies reached record levels, with net interest payments alone absorbing $921 billion. A record 61 developing countries now spend more than 10% of government revenue on foreign debt service, with many climate-vulnerable nations spending twice as much servicing external debt as they receive in climate and biodiversity finance combined.
This burden acts as a structural driver of ecosystem destruction. Under pressure from external creditors and international financial institutions to avoid default and secure foreign exchange, governments are routinely forced into austerity measures and pushed to expand raw commodity exports into pristine biomes.
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The current negotiations for a United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (UNFCITC) also offer a way forward. An estimated $492 billion in tax revenue is lost every year to offshore tax havens. Multinational corporations account for around $348 billion of this total by shifting profits away from the countries where real economic extraction and environmental degradation occur.
In the mining sector alone, developing nations lose tens of billions annually to corporate tax dodging. Furthermore, international financial secrecy shields environmental criminals, with illicit financial flows from illegal logging draining between $51 billion and $152 billion annually.
At COP17, leaders must seize the opportunity to build a bridge between the two conventions and enhance cooperation. Governments must put the world on a firm path to securing predictable, sufficient, sovereign public finance for biodiversity conservation. It’s the only path to a restorative, rights-based future for people and the planet.
The post Protecting nature is a public duty, not a Wall Street profit opportunity appeared first on Climate Home News.
Protecting nature is a public duty, not a Wall Street profit opportunity
Climate Change
Greenpeace delivers 47 metre-long petition with half a million signatures to Woodside HQ following major gas protest
Greenpeace delivers 47 metre-long petition with half a million signatures to Woodside HQ following major gas protest
PERTH, Monday 19 October 2026 — Dozens of Perth community members delivered a giant petition, signed by almost half a million people, to Woodside’s corporate headquarters this morning, calling on the government to save Scott Reef from Woodside’s reckless Browse gas proposal.
Dressed in sea creature costumes and hats, supporters carried one of Australia’s biggest environmental petitions to Woodside’s headquarters, and a local choir performed a ‘Scott Reef’ rendition of Angie McMahon’s iconic cover of ‘Reckless’ by Australian Crawl.
On the sidelines of the Perth Global Citizen Now event, it comes following a two day-long protest at Woodside’s Scarborough gas platform that saw activists scale and occupy the Floating Production Unit calling to “Stop Woodside’s Dirty Gas” and “Save Scott Reef”. The activists were taken from the platform by police helicopter on Sunday afternoon.
David Ritter, CEO at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “Less than a day after two Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists were arrested for their peaceful protest at Woodside’s Scarborough gas platform to save Scott Reef, we are here again with another message to Woodside: half a million of us do not want your dirty gas at Scott Reef.
“Community pressure on Woodside is rising. Today we are here to show Woodside that they can’t ignore half a million people who want Scott Reef protected, not turned into an industrialised gas zone.
“Woodside can’t be trusted with our oceans. Woodside’s plans to drill up to 57 toxic wells at Scott Reef, Australia’s largest oceanic reef, putting endangered pygmy blue whales at risk, and jeopardising a nesting ground for unique green sea turtles.
“We Australians love our oceans and this is an opportunity for our governments to do the right thing, to reject Woodside’s reckless drilling plans, and save Scott Reef.”
-ENDS-
Media contact
Kate O’Callaghan on +61 406 231 892 or Emma Sangalli on +61 431 513 465
Climate Change
Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists in police custody after two-day protest against Woodside’s Browse gas project at Scott Reef
PERTH, Sunday 18 October 2026 — Two Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists are in police custody after occupying a gas platform at Woodside’s Scarborough gas project, in peaceful protest of the fossil fuel corporation’s plans to drill for oil and gas at Scott Reef.
NEW footage and photos of the peaceful protest available here and on Instagram
The activists used specialised climbing equipment to scale and attach themselves to a Floating Production Unit (FPU), a key piece of gas processing infrastructure at the Scarborough gas field over 200km off the coast of Exmouth, at around 05:45am AWST on Saturday and proceeded to occupy the platform for two days, displaying banners reading “Stop Woodside’s Dirty Gas. Save Scott Reef.”
Special police forces landed a helicopter on the FPU at around 11:30am AWST. The activists safely removed themselves from their equipment before being taken into police custody around 1:00pm AWST. At the time of writing, no charges have been laid.
David Ritter, CEO at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “It takes guts and conviction to do what our activists have done, peacefully protesting Woodside’s reckless gas plans at Scott Reef.
“Woodside’s plans to drill up to 57 toxic wells at Scott Reef are outrageous. If allowed to go ahead Woodside would turn Scott Reef, Australia’s largest oceanic reef, home to nesting green sea turtles and elusive pygmy blue whales, into an industrial gas zone. Around half a million people have called on our governments to stop Woodside and to save Scott Reef.
“Our activists are highly trained and experienced in these activities. West Australia has a proud history of peaceful, democratic protest at sea, to protect our oceans from environmental threats. From whaling in Albany in the seventies, to Woodside’s threat to Scott Reef today, there’s more than fifty years of history, of Greenpeace taking action off WA’s coast to protect the places we love.
“Peaceful protest has long been part of what has given us so many of the things that are great about Australia and is part of the fabric of our democracy and our national identity.”
“The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to a healthy democracy. From Australia to the Arctic and the Amazon, Greenpeace has been peacefully protesting for more than 50 years to expose the biggest environmental threats around the world. We will not be silenced by corporations like Woodside who actively try to stop everyday people from speaking out against their reckless plans.
“Woodside’s reckless proposal to drill at Scott Reef is an unacceptable risk to Scott Reef and to the climate, which our government should emphatically reject.”
Speaking from the Rainbow Warrior, Captain of the Rainbow Warrior Hettie Geenen, said:
“It felt powerful watching from the Rainbow Warrior as these brave activists scaled Woodside’s enormous and imposing gas infrastructure, which has no place at Scott Reef. We are all out here because we feel an urge to act, in the face of Woodside’s grave threat to Scott Reef and to our climate. Now we ask for the Australian government to act too, and reject Woodside’s reckless Browse project.
“Just before this peaceful protest, the Rainbow Warrior sailed to Scott Reef, where our whole crew got to witness the magic of an untouched, healthy reef ecosystem full of marine life. It was my second time visiting Scott Reef with the Rainbow Warrior. When you see Scott Reef up close and witness its magic first hand, it is impossible not to feel driven to try and protect it.”
The activists sailed to Scarborough on the Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace’s flagship vessel, which is in the region campaigning to protect Australia’s oceans, including Scott Reef.
-ENDS-
Media contact
Greenpeace Australia Pacific media team in Perth on +61 406 231 892 or +61 407 581 404 or email media.au@greenpeace.org
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