At UN General Assembly, Latin American Leaders Call for Climate Action

At the 2021 UN General Assembly, Latin American leaders were outspoken in their calls for climate action. From regional powerhouses like Argentina to small island states like Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, presidents and prime ministers warned about the catastrophic consequences of climate change for this vulnerable region.

Latin America is responsible for only 8 percent of global emissions, but the region’s governments are increasingly active in multilateral forums, including at the UN. In 2019, Chile helped organize the Conference of the Parties (COP25) UN climate change conference. President Joe Biden invited seven Latin American leaders to the White House virtual climate summit in April 2021. In August 2021, Argentina hosted a virtual regional climate summit that included remarks by the UN secretary general and John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy. Latin American delegations are expected to play an important role at COP26, in Scotland, later this year.

This regional push for action comes amid intensifying impacts in Latin America from the warming climate. Central America and the Caribbean are suffering another above average hurricane season, while a drought in South America is threatening Brazil’s energy supplies and tormenting Argentine shipping companies along the Paraná River. Nevertheless, the region’s top two emitters, Brazil and Mexico, are laggards. President Jair Bolsonaro has presided over massive deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, while President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has cast his lot with Pemex, Mexico’s national oil company, to drive post-pandemic economic recovery.