TheBASIC countries (alsoBasic countries orBASIC) are abloc of four largenewly industrialized countries –Brazil,South Africa,India andChina – formed by an agreement on 28 November 2009. The four committed to act jointly at theCopenhagen climate summit, including a possible united walk-out if their common minimum position was not met by thedeveloped nations.[1] All are members ofBRICS, which also includesRussia and other developing countries that joined the bloc in 2024.
This emerging geopolitical alliance, initiated and led by China, then brokered the finalCopenhagen Accord with theUnited States. Subsequently, the grouping is working to define a common position on emission reductions andclimate aid money, and to try to convince other countries to sign up to theCopenhagen Accord.[2] However, in January 2010, the grouping described the Accord as merely a political agreement and not legally binding, as is argued by the US and Europe.
The four countries also said that they will announce their plans to cutgreenhouse gas emissions by 31 January 2010 as agreed in Copenhagen. Furthermore, the grouping discussed the possibility of providing financial and technical aid to the poorer nations of theG77, and promised details after theirCape Town meeting in April 2010. This move was apparently intended to share richer nations into increasing their funding for climate mitigation in poorer nations.[3]
At the April 2010 meeting in Cape Town, environment ministers from the four countries called for a legally binding global agreement on long-term cooperative action under theUN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and itsKyoto Protocol, to be concluded atthe next UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico in November 2010, or at the latest inSouth Africa by 2011, saying that slow legislative progress in the United States should not be allowed to dictate the pace of global agreement. The group's post-meeting statement also demanded that developed countries allow developing countries "equitable space for development" as well as providing them with finance, technology and capacity-building support, based on their "historical responsibility for climate change".[4]
Technical cooperation among the countries appears to be following, as in May 2010South Africa, Brazil and India announced a joint program to develop satellites.[5]
