BRICS calls for US$1.3 trillion in climate finance by COP30 - Brazil - 08/07/2025

Photo: Tomaz Silva Agência Brazil

BRICS calls for US$1.3 trillion in climate finance by COP30

Richer countries are called to take on more responsibilities

RAFAEL CARDOSO - REPORTER FOR AGÊNCIA BRASIL

Published on 07/07/2025 - 15:58

Rio de Janeiro

The BRICS countries published a joint statement on Monday (7) in which they call on the richest countries to increase their participation in climate finance goals. The fundraising initiative, called Baku to Belém Roadmap US$1.3 trillion, highlights the importance of reaching this amount by COP30, in November.

“We express serious concern about the ambition and implementation gaps in developed countries’ mitigation efforts in the period prior to 2020. We urge these countries to urgently fill these gaps, review and strengthen the 2030 targets in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and achieve net-zero GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions significantly before 2050, preferably by 2030, and net-negative emissions immediately thereafter,” reads one of the excerpts from the document.

The defense of multilateralism was one of the main demands of the group, which met at the Leaders’ Summit in Rio de Janeiro. In this sense, the BRICS reinforces the role of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement as the main channel for international cooperation to address climate change.

The understanding is that mobilizing resources is the responsibility of developed countries towards developing countries. The group recognizes that there are common global interests, but different capacities and responsibilities among countries.

The text points out that there is sufficient global capital to deal with climate challenges, but that it is allocated unequally. In addition, it emphasizes that financing from richer countries should be based on direct transfers and not on counterparts that worsen the economic situation of beneficiaries.

“We emphasize that adaptation financing should be primarily concessional, based on grants and accessible to local communities, and should not substantially increase the indebtedness of developing economies,” the document emphasizes.

Public resources provided by developed countries would be destined for the operational entities of the UNFCCC Financial Mechanism, including the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Adaptation Fund, the Loss and Damage Response Fund (LDRF), the Least Developed Countries Fund and the Special Fund for Climate Change.

In addition to the involvement of public capital, private investments in climate finance are advocated, in order to also allow for the use of blended finance.

“We emphasize that the Tropical Forests Forever Fund (TFFF), proposed for launch at COP30, has the potential to be a promising blended finance instrument, capable of generating predictable and long-term financing flows for the conservation of standing forests,” says the statement.

Carbon market

Other highlights of the statement were the defense of carbon market provisions, seen as a way to catalyze private sector engagement. The BRICS commit to exchanging experiences and working together to promote initiatives in this area.

Another part of the document mentions support for national planning that underpins Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), seen as “the main vehicle for communicating our countries’ efforts to address climate change.”

There is also room for condemnation and rejection of unilateral protectionist measures, seen as punitive and discriminatory, that use environmental concerns as a pretext. Examples include unilateral and discriminatory carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAMs), due diligence requirements that have negative effects on global efforts to halt and reverse deforestation, taxes and other measures.