ISTANBUL

Argentina's President Javier Milei on Wednesday ordered his negotiators to withdraw from the COP29 UN Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, according to press reports.

The delegates attending the summit were ordered to suspend their activities only three days in and return to Buenos Aires immediately, British daily The Guardian reported.

Milei has previously called the climate crisis as a "socialist lie," and during his 2023 election campaign, he threatened to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, although he has since backtracked.

COP29 began this week in the Azerbaijan capital and is set to run through Nov. 22.

Argentina’s departure, and the stance of incoming US President Donald Trump, who has similarly called the climate crisis a “Chinese hoax” and vowed to end green economy initiatives, has left some climate activists worried that efforts to limit temperature rise to below 1.5 Celsius might be crippled.