Climate Change in Latin America - European Commission

Annex 2 Country Fiches
Argentina
International Commitments
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change ratified in 1994 by Law 24.295.
Kyoto Protocol, on September 28, 2001 through
Law 25.438.
Legal Structure
Decree 2213/2002 appointed the Secretary of the
Environment and Sustainable Development (SAySD)
as the Enforcement Authority for Law 24.295.
To coordinate these responsibilities, Ministry of
Social Development Resolution 56/03 established
the Climate Change Unit, now called the Office of
Climate Change (DCC), as part of the Department
of Environment and Sustainable Development's Subdepartment
of Sustainable Development Promotion.
Under the DCC is the Permanent Secretary of
the Argentine Office for Clean Development
Mechanisms (OAMDL), established through Decree
822/98. Under the Sub-department of Sustainable
Development Promotion, the Unit for Sustainable
Energy Development (UDES) and the Environmental
Risk Assessment Unit (UERA) coordinate actions with
the DCC.
Functions
Office of Climate Change
1. Advising the National Director of Sustainable
Development Management in all aspects related
to the implementation of Law 24.295 and the
UNFCCC.
2. Proposing and fostering actions to achieve the
objectives and targets of the UNFCCC, which
include implementing local awareness-raising
actions to mitigate Climate Change.
3. Drafting and preparing guidelines for Climate
Change policy for the National Director of
Sustainable Development Management; identifying
sectoral priorities for mitigation; determining
national targets for potential emission reductions
by sector; defining strategies and focal areas for
mitigation activities by sector, in line with national
sustainable development policies.
4. Coordinating the drafting of National Communications
as part of the country's commitments
under the UNFCCC.
OAMDL
Approving projects is the responsibility of the Argentine
Office for Clean Development Mechanisms (OAMDL),
the main function of which is to evalute the country's
contribution to sustainable development through
the CDMs that it implements. It is also responsible
for establishing methodologies and procedures to
identify, design and assess these projects; making
recommendations for projects to be approved,
identifying funding sources and establishing links with
these sources.
The Executive Committee is headed by an official
named by the Department of Environment and
Sustainable Development and composed of officials
from the following organizations: Department of
Energy; Department of Agriculture, Cattle, Fishing and
Nutrition; Departmant of Foreign Relations and the
Department of Science, Technology and Productive
Innovation. These representatives will have expertise
in fields related to project activities. In this way it will
be ensured that CDM projects are decided on with
joint consensus and that they are in the country's
best interest.
The Permanent Secretary will receive the Project
Design Document (PDD) and ensure that the
documentation presented is complete. The Permanent
Secretary will also send the PDD to the Executive
Committee and the Provincial Authority, where the
project will be ratified. The Permanent Secretary will
also carry out a technical analysis of the project.
As a final step, after the various offices have evaluated
the project, it will be presented to the Department
of Environment and Sustainable Development with
a recommendation for approval or rejection. If it is
approved, the Letter of National Approval will be
granted to the project's sponsor confirming that it
will contribute to sustainable development and that
it is being carried out in a voluntary manner, leaving
open the international request for the cycle of a CDM
project.
FAC (Carbon Fund of Argentina)
The FAC, which was created by Decree 1070/05, is
responsible for the promotion of CDM programmes
and projects. This Fund exists under the auspices
of the Department of Environment and Sustainable
Development. Its objective is to facilitate and provide
incentives for the development of CDM projects.
The FAC's strucutre and operating standards have
been defined based on the document entitled
"Options for the operations of the Carbon Fund of
Argentina", which was drawn up in the framwork of
the World Bank's CF-Assist.
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