Climate Governance in Argentina

The CAT Climate Governance series seeks to produce a practical framework for assessing a government’s readiness - both from an institutional and governance point of view - to ratchet up climate policy and implement adequate transformational policies on the ground, to enable the required economy-wide transformation towards a zero emissions society.

We have set up a framework that assesses and scores a number of indicators, where we rate various aspects of governance. This allows us to establish a common basis on which to compare climate governance across countries as well as identify areas of improvement and highlight positive developments. We have applied this framework at both a national level and on key emissions-intensive sectors of the economy. In Argentina's case we have focused on the agriculture and forestry sector.

For the purpose and overview of this series, see our Climate Governance series main page
For more detail on methodology is here.

Climate Governance series main page

Argentina has shown explicit political commitment towards climate mitigation. Leadership from the head of state and leading institutions is evident and facilitates scaling up climate mitigation policy domestically. However, the need to raise ambition could be emphasised more strongly. Top-level cabinet ministers and secretaries regularly consider climate mitigation policies, while still allowing for autonomy from climate change agencies.

The institutional framework regulating Argentina’s governmental and ministerial processes is robust. The National Climate Change Cabinet (GNCC) effectively coordinates high-level government climate policy and facilitates inter-ministerial and inter-secretarial cooperation as well as public engagement. The Secretariat of Climate Change and Sustainable Development has adequate human and fiscal resources to undertake its mandated tasks and there is a suitable breadth of decarbonisation analyses to aid government decision makers.

Much of Argentina’s processes for policy development, implementation and review around climate change mitigation are still under development. While medium-term policy planning in Argentina is comprehensive and detailed, and sectoral plans are developed in a systematic and coordinated way, long-term policy planning of national climate strategies is not fully developed, there is no quantifiable emissions reduction target for 2050 yet, and there is no institutionalised ratchet up mechanism.

The Argentinian government has shown a positive approach to stakeholder engagement as there are structures in place to consult non-state actors for planned policy actions. However, the Government does not have a formalised strategy in place to address negative externalities, thus transparency and consistency could be increased in actively addressing non-state actor interests.

We analyse ten different criteria of governance under four categories that cover the key enabling factors for effective climate action. We give each a rating as outlined above (poor - neutral - advanced). The methodology framework used for the Argentine assessment is here. For more detail on our methodology in general, click the link below.

Climate Governance methodology page

The following section outlines the results of the analysis for each of the different categories and criteria as well as our recommendations for each category of governance.

• Increase priority of climate change issues in official government declarations by emphasising climate change-related actions and targets.

While these governance criteria have room for improvement, the authors advise prioritising other recommendations.

• Develop ambitious long-term Paris-compatible emission reduction targets (beyond 2030) and action plans and implement them both on the national and the sectoral level.
• Finalise the enhanced transparency framework systems and render the data publicly available.
• Establish a legally binding process to ensure a permanent and mandatory revision process for GHG reporting and policy implementation.

• Demonstrate greater transparency and consistency in addressing and integrating non-state actors’ interests, especially around addressing the negative externalities caused by national transitions.

These tables from the report give an overview and analysis of the key factors of Argentina's governance to enable effective climate action. We look at the country's key institutions, strategies, targets and legislation, as well at a sectoral level for the agriculture and forestry sector.

The report also assesses the readiness of Argentina's agriculture and forestry. See the report for details.

Download the report

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