This week, Brazil's Minister of Environment and Climate Change Marina Silva said the BRICS group, which began in 2006 as a club of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and later South Africa, has the potential to lead a just climate transition.
“We represent around half of the world's population and 39% of global GDP,” she said during the 11th ministerial meeting of BRICS in Brasília, Brazil. “More than ever, the BRICS [countries] are increasingly fertile spaces for innovation, rich in cultural diversity, with strategic resources and an immense quantity and quality of natural capital.”
The countries of BRICS have vastly different political systems, economic models, and geopolitical strategic interests. But sources tell Devex that BRICS is an especially unlikely alliance for climate action due to its members' conflicting economic priorities — China and India rely heavily on coal, Russia is a major fossil fuel exporter, and Brazil and South Africa face challenges balancing environmental goals with economic growth. But this year, Brazil’s BRICS presidency coincides with its presidency of the United Nations Framework Conference on Climate Change, or COP30, which some think puts BRICS in a position to lead the world on climate.
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About the author
Jesse Chase-Lubitz
Jesse Chase-Lubitz covers climate change and multilateral development banks for Devex. She previously worked at Nature Magazine, where she received a Pulitzer grant for an investigation into land reclamation. She has written for outlets such as Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and The Japan Times, among others. Jesse holds a master’s degree in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics.
