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Abstract
This paper assesses the role of the BASIC countries — Brazil, South Africa, India, and China — in UN climate change negotiations. The paper explores the formation and evolution of the group, and focuses on how the four major developing countries of China, India, Brazil, and South Africa have coordinated their positions and acted jointly to achieve an agreed outcome with other players in the recent UN Climate Change Conferences in Copenhagen and Cancun, based on an analysis of their country profiles and negotiation positions on a wide range of climate issues. The paper argues that the emergence of the BASIC Group is a reflection of the ongoing power shift from EU–US agreement to BASIC–US compromise in UN climate negotiations since the early 1990s. The rise of BASIC also has its roots in recent global market dynamics and further reflects the power transformation in the economic dimension of the international system.
Acknowledgements
This research project was conducted from September 2010 to May 2011 under the guidance and supervision of Melinda L. Kimble, Senior Vice President, United Nations Foundation. Additional research and editorial support has been provided by Jichong Wu, Program Associate for Climate Finance and Climate Negotiations, United Nations Foundation, and Erica Fabo, Senior Associate, Sustainability Initiatives, United Nations Foundation. Major funding for this project was provided by the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Georgetown University. The author would like to thank all contributors who share their views, including peer reviewers.
Notes
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3. For example, one of the most-cited references on UN climate change negotiations, the Earth Negotiations Bulletin published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, is mainly a description of countries’ (including the BASIC countries’) negotiation stances and behaviour. Some BASIC-focused articles, such as Machado FH & E Viola, ‘China, India and Brazil: A bloc or individual countries making efforts to combat climate change?’, paper presented at the IPSA-ECPR Joint Conference, São Paulo, Brazil, 16–19 February 2011, as well as Olsson M, ‘Together alone? Brazil, South Africa, India, China (BASIC) and the climate change conundrum’, Stockholm Environment Institute Policy Brief, 2010, etc., analyse the common and different interests of the four countries but mostly in the contemporary rather than historical context.
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