Argentina raised reservations on Saturday regarding the COP30 final declaration in Belém, a text approved by consensus yet one that omits any road map for all countries to phase out fossil fuels.
Nations sealed a modest agreement at the UN climate summit in the Brazilian Amazon on Saturday as many countries swallowed weaker terms on a fossil fuel phaseout to preserve unity.
Nearly 200 countries approved the deal by consensus after two weeks of exhaustive negotiations on the fringes of the rainforest, with the notable absence of the United States as President Donald Trump shunned the talks.
Applause rang out as the gavel was brought down in Belém, but Argentina quickly voiced its discontent.
The main decisions from COP30 – which have been dubbed “Mutirão mundial” by the Brazilian Presidency, an indigenous expression referring to consensus – “must be interpreted in line with national legislation,” warned Eliana Saissac, Argentina’s Environmental Affairs director at the Foreign Ministry.
The “Mutirão” decision marks the 10th anniversary of the historic Paris Agreement on combating climate change and calls for accelerating its implementation on a “voluntary” basis.
President Javier MIlei’s government has long expressed reservation over climate agreements and Argentina's participation in COP30 was in doubt for months in the lead-up to the Belem summit.
Argentina, the Foreign Ministry representative warned, also considers the entire section of the declaration known as “gender and climate” to be confusing and does not regard itself as bound by the language used.
“The language here goes beyond what was agreed” in previous preparatory meetings for COP30, Saissac cautioned.
Argentina, the Vatican and Iran battled through Amazon-based COP to introduce a clarification throughout the gender chapter that ruled out non-binary language.
Those delegations pushed for a specific footnote stating that, in referring to gender, the nearly 200 participating countries meant “men and women.”
The final declaration adopts an “action plan” running from 2026 to 2034 to monitor the specific impact of climate change “on women and girls,” particularly from indigenous communities.
That final document does not include any footnote clarification on gender.
Decisions of the United Nations COPs are binding under international law, although the degree of obligation remains a matter of dispute among member states.
– TIMES/AFP
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