Development agenda for Global South

On July 6-7, Rio de Janeiro will host the BRICS+ Summit of presidents and heads of state. With ten current member states and many others seeking to join, the BRICS+ brings together countries with diverse political, cultural, and civilizational outlooks, but which share a commitment to fostering South-South cooperation and pursuing a more equitable, multipolar global order.

- Fernando Amorim Teixeira

Such efforts are needed more than ever, because climate-change mitigation and adaptation cannot be separated from socioeconomic development. From a production standpoint, responding to such a complex, multifaceted challenge requires integration into higher rungs of the value chain, through strategies underpinned by strong sustainability principles. In practice, that means adopting policies to incentivize energy-efficient production methods and an expansion into higher value-added industrial outputs.

But industrial decarbonization depends on knowledge-intensive sectors and technologies, and investments in these areas do not arise organically from market dynamics. They require political will, strategic planning, a risk appetite for long-duration projects, and ~ crucially — increased productivity through the more efficient use of natural resources. Such an agenda demands empowered states; it calls for a strategic mobilization of public institutions that can operate with relative independence from fiscal constraints.