Multilateralism: Brazil’s flagship at the G20, BRICS and COP30 by Jambres Alves

The 2024/2025 biennium gives Brazil extraordinary prominence on the international scene. In these two years, the largest economy in Latin America, according to the “World Economic Outlook” report – designed by the IMF (International Monetary Fund) – has hosted the G20 Leaders’ Summit and is organizing to receive foreign delegations for the annual BRICS meeting and COP30 (United Nations Conference on Climate Change).

In this way, the largest country in the Southern Hemisphere becomes the center of global diplomacy, in order to coordinate the future of the planet in the health, economic, social, political, environmental and geopolitical areas. In practice, by conducting the agendas of these forums, Brazil intends to sustain its leadership in the Latin region and cooperate in the development of the Global South.

G20

Under the theme “Building a Just World and a Sustainable Planet”, Brazil chaired, in November 2024, the 18th Summit of Leaders of the world’s largest economies, in Rio de Janeiro. At the helm of the bloc, Brazil launched the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, established the G20 Social, and prioritized the debate on sustainable development, energy transition, and global governance reform. The considerations on such issues resulted in the “Declaration of Rio de Janeiro”.

The G20 Social strengthened the link between civil society and the G20, by ensuring the participation of entities in the groups C20 (civil society), T20 (think tanks), Y20 (youth), W20 (women), L20 (work), U20 (cities), B20 (Business), S20 (science), Startup20 (startups), P20 (parliaments); SAI20 (courts of accounts), J20 (supreme courts) and O20 (oceans).

Regarding global governance, there was a meeting between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs at the United Nations, in New York, with the participation of all member states, which is new. Behind the scenes, the objective was to bring the G20 closer to other states in favor of the reform of international institutions.

However, the Brazilian leadership in the G20 was crowned with the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, whose goal is to eradicate hunger in the world by 2030. The initiative has garnered support from 82 countries, the African Union, the European Union, financial institutions and international organizations, and philanthropic and non-governmental entities.

In his speech, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stressed that “we live with a contingent of 733 million people who are still undernourished. In a world that produces almost 6 billion tons of food annually, this is unacceptable.” Released by the UN in June 2024, the report “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World” reports that “about 733 million people went hungry in 2023, equivalent to one in 11 people in the world and one in five in Africa”.

In addition, officially incorporated into the G20, the African Union will have one of its member states presiding over the bloc in 2025: South Africa, a country that ensured the continuity of the G20 Social. In short, the G20 concentrates 85% of the world’s GDP, more than 75% of international trade and about two-thirds of the population of 8 billion people.

BRICS

In July 2025, for the fourth time, Brazil will take over, in Rio de Janeiro, the management of BRICS, a forum for articulation between emerging countries, under the motto “Strengthening Global South Cooperation for a More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance”. In this sense, the goals consist of stimulating economic, political and social cooperation among members and increasing the influence of countries in the Global South in international governance. In addition, Brazil intends to discuss the adoption of local currencies in trade between the countries of the bloc and topics such as climate change, sustainable development with poverty reduction and the management of artificial intelligence.

Created to be a counterpoint to the G7, led by the United States, the bloc of emerging countries, composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, holds more than 42% of the world’s population, 23% of global GDP, 18% of international trade and 42% of global oil and gas reserves. Currently, the bloc has 11 full members, with the entry of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Iran, and Indonesia. In 2025, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry announced Nigeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan as partner members.

COP30

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) is a global and annual meeting, bringing together representatives from more than 190 countries, such as world leaders, scientists, non-governmental organizations and representatives of civil society. Chaired by Brazil in 2025, the summit will take place in November, in Belém do Pará, in the Amazon region.

The agenda of debates includes the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, adaptation to climate change, climate financing for emerging countries, renewable energy technologies and low-carbon solutions, preservation of forests and biodiversity, climate justice and the socioeconomic impacts of climate change, measures in line with the Climate Convention and the Paris Agreement. The challenge is to promote commitments and investments to avoid the effects of global warming and climate change.

With this, the G20 committed to initiatives to limit the temperature increase to 1.5ºC, triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030 and transition to the end of the use of fossil fuels in energy systems.

CONSIDERATIONS

By presiding over the G20, BRICS and COP30, Brazil holds the banner of multilateralism, the basis of its diplomacy. One of his achievements, at the G20, consisted of aligning the consent of the Americans and Chinese, developed and emerging economies, representatives of the European Union and the African Union to his proposals, with emphasis on the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty. It is also noted the readiness of South Africa, a BRICS partner and the largest economy in the African Union, to maintain the G20 Social during its tenure in the Group of 20. In practice, Brazil emphasizes the message that only the multilateral system leads international actors and global processes in the search for peace, social stability and sustainable economic development.

In BRICS, the ambition is to consolidate a coalition among the countries of the Global South, in order to highlight Latin America, Africa, and Asia as promising actors in international trade and the social agenda. In this regard, one of the agendas is the de-dollarization of commercial transactions between the members of the bloc. The US president has already positioned himself against such a strategy. However, the insertion of more countries in the BRICS can gradually make a plural network viable vis-à-vis the West.

At COP30, Brazil intends to expand international support for the implementation of policies for environmental preservation, sustainable development and combating the degradation of ecosystems. In this sense, the country has the experience gained in Eco-92 and Rio+20. In addition, it aims to demonstrate its efforts in the renewable energy, biofuels and low-carbon agriculture sectors. In a counterpoint to the climate emergencies, the United States withdrew from the Paris Agreement.

A leader in Latin America, Brazil understands that the proposed challenges highlight the importance of international relations in order to implement the proposals outlined at the G20 conference and the upcoming agreements in BRICS and COP30. Indeed, Brazilian diplomacy has vast tasks, and resorts to multilateralism to pave the way for international cooperation in the coming decades.

• Jambres Marcos de Souza Alves is a journalist undergraduated at Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas; graduated in Geopolitics and International Relations at Paulista University of São Paulo and The Centre for Studies on Geopolitics and Foreign Affairs; special student at the Institute of International Relations of the University of São Paulo (2024/2025). He is a member of ASBRAGEO (Brazilian Association of Geopolitics).