President Javier Milei is considering withdrawing Argentina from the Paris climate agreement, which aims to curb planet-warming emissions, a drastic move that only one other world leader has made in the past: former President Donald J. Trump, who withdrew the United States during his first term.
The South American country is considering leaving the 2015 agreement as part of a broad reassessment of its climate policies, Argentina’s foreign minister said on Thursday.
Argentina’s review of the landmark climate deal comes as the world braces for an intended second withdrawal from the accords by President-elect Trump. If Mr. Milei also abandons the agreement, some worry it could set off a domino effect, prompting other countries to reconsider their own participation.
The country has not yet made a decision on whether it will leave the accords, according to the foreign minister, Gerardo Werthein. But it is reconsidering its participation in a deal that “has a lot of elements” that Mr. Milei’s government does not agree with.
“We’re re-evaluating our strategy on all matters related to climate change,” he said in an interview with The New York Times. “And so far, we haven’t made any other decision beyond standing down until things are clearer.”
A day earlier, Mr. Milei unexpectedly pulled Argentina’s delegation out of the annual United Nations climate conference, which is being hosted in Baku, Azerbaijan, and is known as COP29 this year. In the past, Mr. Milei, a right-wing libertarian, has called the climate crisis a “socialist lie.”
When asked why the delegation cut its participation short, Mr. Werthein said that, while Argentina’s government doesn’t deny the existence of climate change, the discussion around the causes behind the warming was a “philosophical issue.”
“We have different views on the reasons,” he said. “We consider it to be linked to natural cycles, and we agree on the need to take measures to mitigate it.”
“We decided to withdraw our delegation and re-evaluate our position, nothing more,” he added. “I think it’s a sovereign right.”
A retreat by Argentina from the climate agreement would deal a blow to the landmark Paris agreement at a crucial time in the global struggle to contain climate change.
Research shows that the earth has already warmed, mostly because of the burning of coal, oil and gas for energy, with the last decade being the hottest on record.
The United Nations has warned that nations must slash their emissions by 42 percent by 2030 and 57 percent by 2035 to keep temperatures from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius over preindustrial levels. Without these reductions, the world is on course for a temperature increase of 2.6 to 3.1 degrees Celsius over the course of this century, making it difficult for societies to cope.
The United States is the only nation to have ever withdrawn from the Paris agreement, which was adopted by 196 nations in 2015 in order to help reach those goals.
When then-President Trump pulled the United States from the deal, no other country followed suit. And, in 2021, President Biden rejoined the accords and expanded the United States’ vows to fight climate change and reduce its emissions.
But Mr. Trump has vowed to go in the opposite direction when he takes office again. He has promised to “drill, drill, drill” for oil and gas and to once again pull the United States out of the Paris climate accords.
The alignment in tone between Mr. Milei and Mr. Trump does not come as a surprise.
Argentina’s president has frequently expressed his admiration for Mr. Trump and loudly cheered his election victory on social media, posting A.I.-generated images of himself alongside the president-elect. “Make America Great Again,” Mr. Milei said. “You can count on Argentina to carry out your task.”
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