Through Resolution 385/2023 of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, published in the Official Gazette on 11/14/2023, Argentina approved the National Strategy for the use of Carbon Markets (ENUMeC in Spanish), thus establishing a framework that encourages and promotes the development of these markets.

The country states that it will make use of carbon markets to meet its climate commitments and increase the ambition of successive Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), Adaptation Communications, the Long-Term Strategy (LTS), National Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Plans (PNAyMCC in Spanish) and jurisdictional Climate Change Response Plans.

In the second NDC (2021), Argentina increased ambition by updating its mitigation target, committing not to exceed net emissions of 349 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) by 2030.

The ENUMeC establishes 9 Strategic Axes and 63 Actions for the implementation of carbon markets in the national territory, considering the possibility of participation and access to all new and existing carbon markets, both regulated (compliance) subnational, national and international, as well as voluntary. It covers all sectors and greenhouse gases of the National Inventory (INGEI in spanish).

Among these thematic axes is to promote participation in regulated markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and in other national, subnational and international regulated markets, and to support the participation of the private sector in voluntary markets, aligned with the national climate policy and subject to compliance with climate commitments.

Implementation of the Strategy will require the development of specific roadmaps consistent with national and subnational circumstances, priorities and capacities.

The design and implementation will also require agreements and consensus among diverse actors and institutional arrangements to promote the development of carbon markets. Along these lines, the Strategy proposes the creation of a National Carbon Markets Office within the National Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and the creation of an ad-hoc advisory group of experts to provide support in the technical evaluation of projects.

In addition, the development and implementation of a Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system for carbon market projects and their results aligned with existing structures such as the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory System of Argentina (SNI-GEI-AR) and the National Registry of Climate Change Mitigation Projects (ReNaMi), among others, will be promoted.