Climate risk country profile: Argentina

This climate risk profile is intended to serve as a public good to facilitate upstream country diagnostics, policy dialogue, and strategic planning by providing comprehensive overviews of trends and projected changes in key climate parameters, sector-specific implications, relevant policies and programs, adaptation priorities and opportunities for further actions. Argentina, the second largest country in South America after Brazil. Argentina is one of the largest economies in Latin America and is endowed with extraordinary fertile lands, gas and lithium reserves, and has great potential for renewable energy. Argentina submitted its Second Nationally-Determined Contributions to the UNFCCC in 2020 and its Third National Communication (NC3) in 2015, in support of efforts to reduce the country’s vulnerability to climate variability and change. The country is additionally vulnerable given its high degrees of agricultural activity and the sector’s prominence for the country’s economy and continued economic development. 

This climate risk profile features key trends for Argentina's climate future, including:

• Temperatures across Argentina are projected to continue rising, with mean median annual temperatures projected to rise by +1.6°C by the 2050s and by 3.3°C by the end of the century under a highemissions scenario (RCP 8.5).
• As temperatures rise, these will likely exacerbate existing tensions for water between agricultural and livestock needs as well as human populations needs, especially during the dry seasons; alter water quality from available surface sources; and increase pressures on urban zones as urbanization rates grow.
• Rising temperatures, particularly daily maximum temperatures, pose an increased risk of heat stress for livestock and could significantly reduce critical crop yields for agricultural communities.