BRICS demand wealthy nations fund global climate transition

Highlights:

• Leaders at Rio summit stress climate finance obligations
• Joint statement notes important role for fossil fuels
• Forest fund offers developing nations way to contribute

Leaders of the BRICS group of developing nations prepared to address the shared challenges of climate change on Monday, the final day of their summit in Rio de Janeiro, demanding that wealthy nations fund global mitigation of greenhouse emissions.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has touted the importance of the Global South in tackling global warming as he prepares to host the United Nations climate summit in November.

Still, a joint statement from BRICS leaders released on Sunday argued that fossil fuels will continue to play an important role in the global energy mix, particularly in developing economies.

"We live in a moment of many contradictions in the whole world. The important thing is that we are willing to overcome these contradictions," Brazil's Environment Minister Marina Silva said on the sidelines of the summit, when asked about the plans to extract oil off the coast of the Amazon rainforest.

In their joint statement, BRICS leaders underscored that providing climate finance "is a responsibility of developed countries towards developing countries," which is the standard position for emerging economies in global negotiations.

Their declaration also mentioned the group's support for a fund that Brazil proposed to protect endangered forests - the Tropical Forests Forever Facility - as a way for emerging economies to fund climate change mitigation beyond the mandatory requirements imposed on wealthy nations by the 2015 Paris Agreement.

China and the UAE signaled in meetings with Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad in Rio that they plan to invest in the fund, two sources with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters last week.

The joint statement from BRICS leaders also blasted policies such as carbon border taxes and anti-deforestation laws, which Europe has recently adopted, for imposing what they called "discriminatory protectionist measures" under the pretext of environmental concerns.

DEFENDING MULTILATERAL DIPLOMACY

The opening of the BRICS summit on Sunday presented the bloc as a bastion of multilateral diplomacy in a fractured world and underscored the influence of 11 member nations that represent 40% of global output.

Leaders also indirectly criticized US military and trade policy, while pushing for the reform of multilateral institutions now largely run by Americans and Europeans.

In his opening remarks at the meeting on Sunday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva drew a parallel with the Cold War's Non-Aligned Movement, a group of developing nations that resisted joining either side of a polarized global order.

"BRICS is the heir to the Non-Aligned Movement," Lula told leaders. "With multilateralism under attack, our autonomy is in check once again."

The Rio summit, the first to include Indonesia as a member, has showcased the rapid expansion of BRICS but raised questions about shared goals within its diverse group.

In a joint statement published on Sunday, the BRICS condemned military attacks on Iran and Gaza, but stopped short of a unified position on which countries should have seats on a reformed United Nations Security Council. Only China and Russia supported adding Brazil and India to the council.

Leaders including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa gathered in Rio to discuss economic and geopolitical tensions. But the meeting's political weight was diminished by Chinese President Xi Jinping's decision to send Premier Li Qiang in his place.