Global Futures Bulletin: BRICS and the Climate Agenda: Brazil’s BRICS and COP30 Dual Presidency and What Comes Next
The climate agenda has been gaining strength within BRICS since 2019. Initially marked by occasional mentions in political declarations, it gained new momentum with Brazil’s BRICS presidency in 2025 — the same year the country is also hosting COP30. In this context, cooperation has evolved into a more structured sectoral format, opening a critical window to advance climate action among the bloc’s member states.
This Global Futures Bulletin analyzes the main outcomes achieved during Brazil’s relatively short BRICS Presidency and considers what lies ahead. It also reflects on the agreements reached among the group’s members in recent years, the ongoing changes in many BRICS countries — such as efforts to accelerate decarbonization — and the growing relevance of climate-related issues in the bloc’s agenda.
The consensus emerging in 2025 combines a strong political message with a forward-looking vision for intra-BRICS cooperation on climate matters. Brazil’s decision to elevate the political priority of climate issues within BRICS aligns with its broader goal of accelerating the implementation of climate agreements and revitalizing international cooperation against climate change in the face of global polycrisis, instability, and fragmentation.
However, to move from rhetoric to concrete results, the bloc needs to institutionalize its climate action agenda further and accelerate cooperation by building upon and deepening previously agreed-upon initiatives. At the sectoral level, numerous still incipient opportunities could be advanced bilaterally and trilaterally in areas of mutual interest and convergence, turning the BRICS platform into an enabler of multidimensional cooperation among its members and a key contributor to global climate action and tangible climate solutions.
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Learn more about this topic in the Governance Gaps: Assessing Global Disparities in AI Policy Initiatives around the World and The BRICS and the Decarbonization and Biodiversity Protection Challenges editions of the Global Futures Bulletin.
