The climate crisis is forcing humanity to fundamentally rethink its relationship with nature. Most countries around the world are already prepared to move towards carbon neutrality by 2050.
In the autumn of 2023, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated that the planet had experienced a “season of boiling” (the hottest summer on record) and noted that the climate crisis had already begun. However, the record did not last long. The following summer, temperatures rose even higher and, according to annual data, crossed the 1.5°C threshold established by the Paris Climate Agreement as a “red line”.
The consequences of global warming have long been evident: deserts are expanding in the south, while Arctic ice is melting in the north. Annual financial losses linked to natural disasters are steadily increasing. Recently, they have already exceeded US$500 billion.
Against this backdrop, experts note that the climate agenda is increasingly shifting from discussions about the pace of emissions reductions to practical adaptation measures.
Aleksandra Kudzagova, an expert in environmental law, noted in a comment to TV BRICS that countries are actively working on adapting to climate change.
“What all countries of the world agree on today is the need for rapid adaptation to climate change. The global community has agreed to increase adaptation finance for developing countries to US$1.3 trillion by 2035,” Kudzagova notes.
Climate risks for BRICS+ countries
The climate challenges faced by countries today are quite diverse. For example, China has suffered unprecedented flooding in recent years, while Brazil has been hit by abnormal heatwaves, which not only destroy crops but also trigger large-scale forest fires.
Russia faces a different acute problem: rising temperatures are causing permafrost thaw, which covers more than 60 per cent of its territory. This, in turn, could threaten the destruction of buildings, roads, pipelines, and other infrastructure.
Russia’s temperature is changing two and a half times faster than the global average, and Moscow, according to data from the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has entered the top three fastest-warming cities. Ahead of the Russian capital are only Tehran (Iran) and Kolkata (India).
BRICS+ countries have also not escaped the threat associated with rising sea levels. Shanghai, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, Vladivostok and many other cities are in high-risk zones. This is hardly surprising, given that almost 40 per cent of the world’s population lives within just 100 kilometres of the coast.
Progress and climate leadership of BRICS countries
As early as the seventh BRICS summit held in Ufa in 2015, the group’s countries declared their readiness to address climate change at both the global and national levels. Since then, BRICS activity in this area has only intensified.
As independent researcher Genevieve Donnellon-May notes, in recent years Brazil has become one of the key coordinators of the climate agenda within BRICS.
“At the 17th BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil helped secure agreement on key documents, including the
BRICS Leaders’ Framework Declaration on Climate Finance and a broader Climate Leadership Agenda. These initiatives emphasised reform of multilateral development banks, greater mobilisation of private capital for the Global Souths,” Genevieve Donnellon-May emphasises.
According to the expert, Brazil has also demonstrated notable progress at the national level. In the twelve months leading up to July 2025, deforestation in the Amazon decreased by 11.8 per cent, reaching its lowest level in the past 11 years. This marked the third consecutive year in which, under the administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, deforestation rates declined, amounting to an overall reduction of around 50 per cent compared with 2022 levels.
Scientists have long concluded that it is impossible to completely neutralise the climate crisis. However, there is a chance at least to slow it down and give the planet’s population time to adapt. The key to this may be the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources (solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, etc.). In other words, to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, abandon coal, oil and gas, and slow global warming, humanity must already begin transitioning to green energy.
China plays a special role in this process, viewing the climate agenda not as a constraint but as a driver of technological and industrial development, believes Aleksandra Kudzagova, an expert in environmental law. “That is why gradual decarbonisation in China’s programme is combined with the development and growth of international trade. China has emphasised that development itself has made the country a giant in renewable energy. In 2024 alone, China invested US$290 billion in renewables and increased its solar power capacity twentyfold over ten years, while also becoming the world’s leading supplier of electric vehicles, solar panels and wind power installations,” the expert adds.
Strategies for a just energy transition
BRICS+ countries have supported international climate initiatives. Most of them have committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions between 2050 and the 2070s. Analysts note that the main components of cooperation in this area will include carbon regulation, climate adaptation, the development of renewable energy sources, and the creation of common mechanisms for implementing climate projects.
At the same time, BRICS+ places particular emphasis on a “just energy transition”, the essence of which lies in reducing the risks of a forced leap towards net-zero carbon indicators. The energy transition should not harm national economies or negatively affect people’s lives. As noted by the authors of the study “Just Energy Transition for BRICS Countries”, the transition is fundamentally based on the freedom to choose pathways to carbon neutrality, to shape energy balances and to develop energy systems in line with national characteristics and priorities.
According to Genevieve Donnellon-May, climate leadership within BRICS today is determined not only by the scale of emissions reductions. “Climate leadership within BRICS extends beyond domestic emissions trajectories to the ability to drive collective action within a diverse and often divided group,” she notes.
Cities of the future and climate resilience
According to UN forecasts, by 2050 the world’s urban population will increase by nearly 2 billion people, meaning that two-thirds of the planet’s inhabitants will live in megacities or other urbanised areas. As a result, the creators of future cities are already striving to make them not only comfortable and safe but also environmentally friendly.
Any modern urban concept today is focused on preserving the natural environment. Among the tools urban planners intend to use are solar panels on building façades and rooftops, smart transport powered by clean energy, and vacuum waste collection systems (where waste is transported via underground pipelines directly to recycling facilities). It is known that energy-autonomous cities, capable of generating 70–80 per cent of their own resources, are far more resilient to extreme situations, including climate-related challenges.
However, new approaches to the living environment and climate are not limited to green energy alone. To cope with exhausting heat, programmes have been developed that use 3D models to create an analogue of a city’s landscape and analyse how it absorbs heat. The identified “hot spots” are then transformed into squares and parks. As scientists note, trees are capable of reducing temperatures by 3.5 to 5.5 degrees.
Another scourge of modern civilisation is flooding. In the planet’s history, there have been instances of rain falling continuously for more than a year. Such anomalies are, of course, rare, but meteorologists observe that global warming is causing a sharp increase in heavy downpours. Authorities in many megacities are trying to address street flooding through the sponge city project. The concept involves, on the one hand, reducing impermeable surfaces (asphalt, paving stones) and replacing them with more natural ones, and on the other, expanding green areas. As a result, during rainfall the soil absorbs water, protecting the city from flooding, and during droughts releases it back to plants and microorganisms. The city closest to implementing this concept is Shanghai, where it is expected that by 2030, 80 per cent of its territory will comply with this model.
Cities of the future, serving as experimental models for humanity’s continued existence, are being developed in virtually all BRICS countries. This and other aspects of cooperation within the current climate agenda enable group members to exchange new technologies, jointly address emissions reduction challenges, maintain a consolidated position on the international stage and defend the interests of developing countries.
The article was prepared by Igor Severgin.
Photo: Chinnapong, RomoloTavani, Dilok Klaisataporn, kynny / iStock
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