BRIC Group on Energy and Climate

On 16 June 2009, the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China (or BRIC) met in Yekaterinburg at the base of the Ural Mountains for their first official summit. Touted as the four leading non-Western economies, the BRIC group have assumed increasingly active roles in the world system over the past decade. Playing host to the summit – alongside a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization - Russia has taken great steps to up its diplomatic profile as it balances its international obligations, economic renewal, energy wealth and historical super-power.

Top on the agenda were economic issues, such as national stimulus, fiscal imbalances and trade protectionism, encouraging continued cooperation by the BRIC countries through the G20 summit process. Among the key initiatives set out in the Joint Statement of the BRIC Countries’ Leaders was the reform of international financial institutions to better represent the current/future global economic order. Any reform should adhere to democratic and transparent decision-making, must be rules-based and enforce compliance, and provide a greater voice to emerging economies.

Of particular interest was their statement on energy issues. Three relevant paragraphs state;

7.The implementation of the concept of sustainable development, comprising, inter alia, the Rio Declaration, Agenda for the 21st Century and multilateral environmental agreements, should be a major vector in the change of paradigm of economic development.

8.We stand for strengthening coordination and cooperation among states in the energy field, including amongst energy producers and consumers and transit states, in an effort to decrease uncertainty and ensure stability and sustainability. We support diversification of energy resources and supply, including renewable energy, security of energy transit routes and creation of new energy investments and infrastructure.

9.We support international cooperation in the field of energy efficiency. We stand ready for a constructive dialogue on how to deal with climate change based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, given the need to combine measures to protect the climate with steps to fulfill our socio-economic development tasks.

While it is not surprising that, as the continent’s major producer, the Russian hosts would include a declaration on energy issues. However, what does jump out is the maturity of the language. Paragraph 8 is among the first summit documents to recognize the three key categories of energy states; producers, consumers and transit. Often, the energy conundrum is distilled to a dyadic relationship between oil-rich states (OPEC) and importing countries (OECD). The reality is that after extraction natural resources pass through many hands and cross many borders before reaching the end user.

Any formula for legitimate global energy governance must include all three off these country categories. However, we cannot ignore the obvious motivations of the host, and its frequent politicking of oil/gas supply to Europe. When Russia hosted its first G8 leaders’ summit in 2006, it chose energy security as the critical point of discussion. In similar fashion to the BRIC summit, the host reminded its guests of the vast Russian reserves for sale, treating the opportunity like a used-car salesman would, shamelessly flaunting its wares. Then, as in now, there was an opportunity to engage high-level debate on what regulation/oversight is needed in the energy sector and what sort of body should enforce compliance. Such a body is unlikely to ever materialize, especially if countries like Russia – willing to use energy as an arm of security policy – set the mandate of discussion.

Later this year, the UN-led global climate regime will engage the emerging economies and the developing world at Copenhagen. The BRIC statement is a good indication of where the negotiations currently stand on bringing China, India and others into the post-Kyoto framework. Before it can be resolved, many concessions will be required of all countries, but it appears debate remains deadlocked in an emissions blame game, where everyone loses.

After four ministerial meetings, an informal leaders meeting and now a full summit, the BRIC group has demonstrated itself to be a potent source of global political discussions. With Brazil and Russia as major regional energy producers, and China and India as the world’s growing consumers, it is likely that issues of energy governance will continue to feature in their discussions. Each are also members of the US-led Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, set to meet again alongside July’s G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy.

It will be interesting to watch how cooperation within this group comes into its own through the G8’s Heiligendamm Process, the G20 economic summit, the Copenhagen climate conference, and the 2010 BRIC summit in Brazil.

Tags: Brazil, BRIC, China, climate change, Energy, India, Oil, Russia, sustainable development