17th BRICS Summit 2025: Environment, COP 30, and Global Health

Why in News ?  The 17th BRICS Summit, hosted in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 7–8, 2025, brought together leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa to deliberate on pressing global challenges. Under the overarching theme of “Building a Just Global Order”, the summit emphasized environmental sustainability, climate action in the run-up to COP 30, and enhancing global health architecture—all of which reflect the growing commitment of emerging economies to shaping a resilient and equitable world.

Relevance : UPSC Pre &  Mains

Prelims : BRICS & Related topics

Mains :   GS 2/GS 3

Environment and Climate Action:

• Shared Responsibility: BRICS nations reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris Agreement, recognizing the urgent need to limit global warming to below 1.5°C.
• Sustainable Development: The summit stressed integrating green technologies, circular economy, and sustainable agriculture to reduce ecological footprints.
• Just Transition: Emphasis was laid on ensuring a just and equitable energy transition, particularly for developing nations, with climate finance and technology transfer as key enablers.
• Amazon Rainforest & Brazil’s Leadership: As host, Brazil spotlighted the Amazon’s ecological significance, drawing attention to its conservation ahead of COP 30, which it will also host in Belém, 2025.

COP 30 and Global Climate Governance:

• Rio to Belém Continuity: The summit served as a prelude to COP 30, expected to be a historic climate summit, reinforcing Global South priorities on mitigation, adaptation, and climate justice.
• BRICS Climate Cooperation Mechanism: A new working group was proposed to enhance intra-BRICS cooperation on climate data sharing, carbon markets, and green financing.
• Equity and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR): BRICS pushed for respecting the principle of CBDR in all international climate negotiations, opposing shifting more burden onto developing nations.

Global Health and Pandemic Preparedness:

• Post-COVID Global Health Framework: The summit highlighted the need for a robust global health governance system, learning from the COVID-19 experience.
• BRICS Vaccine Network Expansion: Discussions were held to strengthen vaccine research and production capacity, especially in the Global South, through a BRICS Vaccine R&D Centre.
• One Health Approach: Recognizing the interconnection between human, animal, and environmental health, the leaders endorsed a ‘One Health’ framework to address future pandemics and zoonotic diseases.
• Access to Medicines: BRICS nations called for affordable access to essential medicines and opposed vaccine nationalism and restrictive IPR regimes.