Lecture: BRICS at the Crossroads: Mapping BRICS Commitments to Climate Change Mitigation
Date: Thursday, 24th April, 2025; 2.00 p.m. (IST)
Lecture by: Senior Professor (Dr.) Usha Tandon, Vice-Chancellor, RP National Law University, Prayagraj, India.
Synopsis
BRICS that represents a growing coalition of major emerging economies has influenced the global discourse on economic development. Given their substantial share of global greenhouse gas emissions and economic influence, the group's approach to climate change mitigation holds considerable weight in international efforts to combat global warming. The lecture would critically evaluate the commitment of the BRICS to climate change mitigation from their first summit in 2009 at Yekaterinburg through to the most recent in 2024 again in Russia’s Kazan. It would analyse declarations, institutional mechanisms, and national implementations to assess how BRICS has evolved as a collective in addressing global climate challenges. It would explain as to how the 15-year journey of BRICS in this regard reveals a pattern of ambitious rhetoric in acknowledging and addressing climate change and patchy implementation. The lecture would demonstrate that while the group has attempted to make significant development in shaping an alternative narrative to western-dominated global institutions, its commitment to climate change mitigation presents a complex picture—marked by some progress, more paradoxes, and persistent challenges. It concludes with a call that as climate crises intensify and the world seeks equitable models of development, BRICS must evolve from a platform of symbolic unity to one of actionable commitment