Rooted in realities

BRICS environmental cooperation is injecting lasting momentum into the Global South green transition

More than a decade on, BRICS environmental cooperation serves as both a pragmatic exploration among emerging economies in jointly tackling environmental challenges and a significant practice of the Global South in advancing reforms of the global environmental governance system.

The trajectory of BRICS environmental cooperation clearly reflects the overall evolution of the BRICS mechanism from "dialogue-oriented exchanges" to "result-oriented actions".

In 2014, China initiated an informal meeting of BRICS environment ministers during the United Nations Environment Assembly, sowing the seeds of cooperation. In 2015, the first BRICS Environment Ministers' Meeting was held, officially establishing the ministerial meeting mechanism. Over the past decade, 12 ministers' meetings have been held successively, and the foundation of cooperation has been continuously consolidated.

In the early years, BRICS environmental cooperation focused on policy dialogue and experience sharing, with three major cooperation initiatives established: the Environmentally Friendly Technology Platform, the Clean Rivers Umbrella Programme and the Partnership for Urban Environmental Sustainability Initiative (PUESI). After the BRICS Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Cooperation was signed in 2018, measures including the development of the BRICS best available technologies reference guides and high-level meetings on climate change were successively rolled out, accelerating the translation of agreements from paper to practice.

The 2024 BRICS expansion ushered environmental cooperation into the "greater BRICS era". The Contact Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development was formally established; documents including the BRICS framework for cooperation on climate change and sustainable development, an MoU on the BRICS carbon markets partnership and the Leaders' Framework Declaration on Climate Finance were successively adopted, with ever-expanding areas and rising levels of cooperation.

The unique value of BRICS environmental cooperation lies in its response to the shared concerns of developing countries and its distinct environmental governance path that differs from the Western model.

For a long time, the global environmental governance system has witnessed a pronounced "North-South imbalance". Some developed countries, having accumulated greenhouse gas emissions responsibilities during industrialization, have been slow to deliver on their commitments on climate finance and technology transfer. Developing countries, meanwhile, face the dual tasks of economic development and poverty eradication, while addressing environmental and climate challenges, constrained by limited financial resources, technology and capacity.

BRICS environmental cooperation is rooted in the realities of developing countries, respects national circumstances and development stages, and pursues environmental protection in the course of development — thus offering a referable green transition path for the Global South.

China has played a leading role in this process. Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, China has pursued a green development path. Since the beginning of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, China has built the world's largest and fastest-growing renewable energy system, and created a successful practice of effectively protecting the environment while achieving economic and social development as the largest developing country.

China not only pursues green development at home, but also translates its experience and resources into tangible outcomes for BRICS cooperation. The BRICS PUESI, proposed by China, has facilitated experience exchanges in waste management, urban air quality, urban green areas and other fields among cities of BRICS countries. In the field of green technology, China compiled the BRICS Green Technology Manual: Chinese Candidate Technologies, promoting technology matching and transfer. At the global level, China initiated the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and launched the Kunming Biodiversity Fund. In 2025, the fund approved its second batch of 22 fully funded projects, benefiting 34 developing countries including some BRICS members and effectively injecting momentum into green development of the Global South.

Amid accelerating global changes unseen in a century, growing global challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss, as well as rising unilateralism and protectionism, the global environmental governance system faces unprecedented pressures. As important representatives of the Global South, BRICS countries need to demonstrate solidarity and deepen cooperation.

Looking ahead, BRICS environmental cooperation can be further advanced in three directions.

First, strengthen policy coordination and build consensus in multilateral mechanisms including the G20, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity, and jointly enhance the voice and representation of Global South countries in environmental governance.

Second, deepen practical cooperation, give full play to the complementary advantages of BRICS countries in environmental governance, green technology and clean energy, and ensure the effective operation of mechanisms such as the BRICS Environmentally Sound Technology (BEST) Cooperation Platform and the carbon market partnership.

Third, broaden the cooperation landscape, seize the opportunities brought by "greater BRICS" cooperation, strengthen alignment among members and build a broader partnership for environmental governance among Global South countries.

Notably, China will take over the rotating presidency of BRICS in 2027. By then, China-initiated cooperation represented by the BRICS PUESI is expected to yield more substantive results; and cooperation in areas including biodiversity conservation, climate change, green finance, and environmental technology and research will also reach a new level.

Over a decade of cooperation has proved that BRICS environmental cooperation conforms to the trend of the times, responds to the needs of all members and boasts strong vitality. At this critical juncture of the global green transition, BRICS countries working hand in hand will surely contribute more wisdom and strength to building a fair, reasonable and win-win global environmental governance system.

The author is the division director of the Foreign Environmental Cooperation Center at the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China.

The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.