Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Tanmay Kumar has said that over the past two decades, the BRICS alliance has expanded from an economic dialogue into an influential platform for defining its approach to the critical challenges facing the environment.
He said this while chairing the Senior Officers’ Meeting of the Environment Working Group and Contact Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development in New Delhi today. He noted that the partnership has broadened in terms of relevance to sustainable development, climate resilience and adaptation, resource efficiency and circular economy, as well as environmental governance.
Addressing the gathering he said BRICS has evolved over the past two decades from an economic dialogue into an increasingly influential platform addressing major global environmental challenges, including pollution, biodiversity loss and global warming.
During the meeting, the Chair informed that BRICS 2026 has been guided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision that global cooperation must remain people-centric by advancing a humanity-first approach. It said that over the course of India’s Chairship, the Environment Working Group and the Contact Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development have together advanced cooperation across four interconnected priority areas: Promoting Sustainable Lifestyles; Afforestation, Forest Fire Management and Disaster Resilience; Circular Economy and Adaptation.
Further, the Chair stated that these priority areas reflect the unanimous recognition that climate resilience, ecosystem restoration, resource efficiency and sustainable development are deeply interconnected challenges that require integrated and holistic responses rather than isolated interventions in silos. BRICS member countries, including Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Russian Federation, Republic of South Africa and United Arab Emirates participated in the meeting.
Senior officials from BRICS member countries on Monday held discussions on key environmental priorities, climate change and sustainable development at a meeting in Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi.Tanmay Kumar said the priority areas reflect the common environmental challenges faced by BRICS countries and the need for integrated responses to climate resilience, ecosystem restoration, resource efficiency and sustainable development.
The deliberations are expected to contribute towards building consensus on key environmental priorities ahead of the 12th BRICS Environment Ministers’ Meeting, scheduled to be held in New Delhi on Tuesday.The participating delegations congratulated India on its leadership as BRICS Chair and appreciated the productive deliberations on priority areas, conducted in an atmosphere of mutual respect, trust and consensus-based decision-making.
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