The green challenge BRICS faces

The theme of the just concluded BRICS Summit, "Foster High-Quality BRICS Partnership, Usher in a New Era of Global Development", suggests a multifarious agenda but, in accordance with the phrase "new era of global development", environmental issues figured substantively in the discussions. Which is not surprising, because any new era of global development will have to take on board environmental concerns, especially global warming and climate change, today rather than tomorrow.

A report published by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change earlier this year made it clear that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have to peak by 2025 if the objective of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius is to be achieved. If substantial reductions in GHG emissions are not achieved by 2030, global temperature rise could reach catastrophic levels－in the region of 3 C.

Comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, BRICS occupies a unique position in the global order, which will have important consequences. On the one hand, the BRICS member states are big economies, contributing 25 percent of the world's GDP and 18 percent of global trade. On the other hand, they are all facing significant economic challenges, mainly in the form of eradicating poverty or preventing people from slipping back into poverty.