Argentina
Argentina
Overall NDC Equity Score
Insufficient
Emissions Reductions
Insufficient
The NDC has significant gaps in setting ambitious emissions reduction goals and implementation efforts, ignoring the need for urgent climate action.
Gender Justice
Insufficient
The NDC includes gender as a cross-cutting principle, but it insufficiently addresses long-term solutions of inclusion beyond vulnerability and adaptation.
Youth Inclusion
Insufficient
The NDC has significant gaps in addressing youth inclusion.
Summary
The Argentine Republic has huge diversity in climates, resources, and cultures. The great diversity and heterogeneity found within the natural spaces of the country can also be found in the social sphere. From north to south there are indigenous communities that have historically been marginalized, as well as large cities that concentrate 92% of the population (INDEC, 2010). Inside these, we find a notorious inequality, demonstrated by the poverty index at 42% (INDEC, 2020), housing deficits, large-scale unemployment, and recurrent currency devaluations. In this context, given the need for internal recovery to face the current economic crisis, the country has prioritized short-term policies that leave aside the green transition, instead of promoting the advancement of long-term public policies.
Argentina appears on the international scene as a country with a strong presence in international trade linked to the production and export of commodities, mainly those related to the agro-industrial sector, but also to fossil fuels and metals. As a result, Argentina’s GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions have increased by 52% in the period from 1990 to 2016, representing a 56% share of global emissions (Worldometer, 2016). In its NDC, Argentina commits to a total reduction of 19% of emissions by 2030, compared to the historical maximum of emissions reached in 2007. This number is not compatible with the Paris Agreement and must be strengthened to ensure a sustainable future.
On gender mainstreaming, Argentina’s NDC takes a very strong approach in recognizing and closing the gender gap. The incorporation of gender is transversal throughout the sectors the NDC covers, mainly as a point of analysis of present and future measures to address the climate crisis. It also highlights the need for this approach, recognizing the present inequalities and the greater vulnerability of women and girls to the effects of climate change. The NDC established 15 principles for its design, including one principle on gender equality. Further, national adaptation measures were evaluated for gender inclusion and equality and training was provided among NDC contributors to ensure they “gender mainstreaming” within the strategy. Though gender was strongly considered in adaptation and climate vulnerability components of the NDC, there are no references to women as change-makers or contributors to climate action.
On youth inclusion, there are no specific measures, considerations, or analyses on youth vulnerability, inclusion, or capacity to serve as agents of change in the NDC. Though there are timid references to youth activism, climate education, and youth inclusion in the 15 working groups that informed the NDC through a round table discussion, there is limited evidence on youth inclusion within the NDC.
Highlights
- Argentina's second NDC is more ambitious and inclusive than its first NDC.
- Incorporates a cross-cutting gender perspective.
- Considers citizen participation, climate education, and transparency as important factors.
- Focuses on achieving a just and equitable transition, prioritizing the most vulnerable social groups.
Lowlights
- Youth are not included in the NDC development process of Argentina.
- The NDC fails to provide implementation strategies for the inclusion of women and other gender identities.
- Fails to recognize youth as stakeholders.
Key Recommendations
In Argentina, social mobilizations are part of civil culture, they are a historical way of confronting and demanding from the government what is not being fulfilled. Currently, there are very strong feminist and youth environmental groups that make themselves heard and generate pressure towards climate justice. Though the NDC recognizes gender as cross-cutting theme and provides clear evidence of the significance of gender equality, it lacks specific measures and data on gender and climate.
Intergenerational equity is referenced in the NDC, however, there are only minimal references to youth inclusion as a guiding principle and as a group of people who can help raise awareness on climate change rather than as agents of change and those deeply vulnerable to the climate crisis. The following are key recommendations for the improvement of future NDCs and other national climate plans:
For Gender Justice
- Generate spaces for citizen participation that include people of different ages, backgrounds, and genders.
- Generate alliances and joint work with NGOs that work in gender.
- Provide gender disaggregated data in the NDC.
- Open spaces for discussion that include different social groups, such as indigenous people, environmental NGOs, young people, and the LGBTQ+ community so that they can truly be taken into account within NDC elaboration and evaluation.
For Youth Inclusion
- Recognize the fundamental role that youth play in climate action.
- Youth must be included in the decision-making processes and to be considered not only as recipients of measures, but also as agents of change.
Authors
