Policy Brief # 56 / 2024
Climate change is identified in Russia’s Climate Doctrine as “one of the most serious challenges of the 21st century,” a statement that is hard to disagree with. Scientists around the world have agreed that anthropogenic factors play a key role in this process through greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. According to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), by 2020, the increase in global average temperature compared to the pre-industrial era (1850-1900) reached 1.1 degrees Celsius. However, climate change mitigation measures currently pledged by nations are insufficient to maintain the rise in the global temperature within the limits set by the 2015 Paris Agreement.
BRICS countries play a crucial role in global climate policy. Even before its expansion, the association accounted for just under half of global carbon dioxide emissions (~47%). With the addition of Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Ethiopia in 2024, this figure exceeded 50% (51.76%). As BRICS now represents more than 45%6 of the world’s population and its combined GDP makes up over a quarter of the global total (~27%), it becomes clear that the success of the global fight against climate change largely depends on this set of countries, as the mitigation problem cannot be solved without decarbonizing BRICS economies.
While the five new BRICS members have very different approaches to climate policy, global climate change poses substantial economic, political and social challenges both for them and for other countries worldwide. Four of the new members are classified as developing countries (with Ethiopia being the only least developed country), and three of them have economies dependent on fossil fuels. At the same time, all five are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts: in the climate vulnerability ranking, the new countries fall into risk zones ranging from medium to very high. These circumstances make climate policy particularly relevant for all of them, both in terms of climate change mitigation and economic decarbonization (especially for the Gulf oil-producing countries) and adaptation.
Therefore, BRICS expansion opens new opportunities in climate change action for the entire association. This policy brief will examine the climate policies of new BRICS members and explore opportunities for expanding their climate cooperation with Russia and as part of broader BRICS initiatives.
Policy Brief # 56 / 2024
Climate change is identified in Russia’s Climate Doctrine as “one of the most serious challenges of the 21st century,” a statement that is hard to disagree with. Scientists around the world have agreed that anthropogenic factors play a key role in this process through greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. According to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), by 2020, the increase in global average temperature compared to the pre-industrial era (1850-1900) reached 1.1 degrees Celsius. However, climate change mitigation measures currently pledged by nations are insufficient to maintain the rise in the global temperature within the limits set by the 2015 Paris Agreement.
BRICS countries play a crucial role in global climate policy. Even before its expansion, the association accounted for just under half of global carbon dioxide emissions (~47%). With the addition of Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Ethiopia in 2024, this figure exceeded 50% (51.76%). As BRICS now represents more than 45%6 of the world’s population and its combined GDP makes up over a quarter of the global total (~27%), it becomes clear that the success of the global fight against climate change largely depends on this set of countries, as the mitigation problem cannot be solved without decarbonizing BRICS economies.
While the five new BRICS members have very different approaches to climate policy, global climate change poses substantial economic, political and social challenges both for them and for other countries worldwide. Four of the new members are classified as developing countries (with Ethiopia being the only least developed country), and three of them have economies dependent on fossil fuels. At the same time, all five are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts: in the climate vulnerability ranking, the new countries fall into risk zones ranging from medium to very high. These circumstances make climate policy particularly relevant for all of them, both in terms of climate change mitigation and economic decarbonization (especially for the Gulf oil-producing countries) and adaptation.
Therefore, BRICS expansion opens new opportunities in climate change action for the entire association. This policy brief will examine the climate policies of new BRICS members and explore opportunities for expanding their climate cooperation with Russia and as part of broader BRICS initiatives.
New BRICS Member Climate Policy: Challenges and Opportunities, 9.7 Mb
