With Donald Trump latest tariffs deepening cracks in global trade, leaders of the BRICS bloc are rallying to defend multilateralism. Brazil President Lula has called on fellow BRICS heads to confront the erosion of international rules, warning that US protectionism threatens developing economies. His appeal comes at a time when the Global South faces overlapping crises of climate change, debt and economic instability but also fresh opportunities for cooperation.
For decades countries of the South have sought to unite against shared struggles from colonial exploitation to unequal global governance. Yet that unity has always been fragile, tested by shifting alliances, domestic politics and the pull of stronger northern economies.
From Bandung to Climate Talks
The first great moment of Global South solidarity came in 1955 at the Bandung Conference where Asian, African and Arab leaders rejected colonialism and pledged non-alignment. Later, at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit developing nations ensured the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” was written into the UN climate convention, placing development at the core of the environment agenda.
More recently Southern power was visible in India and South Africa push for a COVID-19 vaccine patent waiver Cuba’s deployment of doctors abroad, and the fragile unity that secured a Loss and Damage Fund at COP27 in Egypt. A series of G20 presidencies by Indonesia, India, Brazil and South Africa further amplified calls for debt relief, financial reform and green industrialisation.
Fractures and Contradictions
Still cohesion has been elusive. Global North actors have often sought to divide Southern blocs, casting emerging economies as blockers in climate talks against island states and the poorest nations. Internal rifts within BRICS and the wider Global South also run deep from lack of transparency to dependence on fossil fuels. Critics point to corruption, authoritarianism and weak civil society participation within many member states.
Yet despite contradictions, common struggles rising energy demand, industrial ambitions, climate vulnerability remain powerful grounds for cooperation. Renewables are expanding fast across BRICS, with China leading global solar and wind construction and India meeting climate targets ahead of schedule. The bloc now produces more than half of the world’s solar energy, showing how growth and green ambitions can move together, even if fossil fuels still dominate.
Towards a Green Southern Vision
The energy transition for the South is unlikely to be a rapid phase-out of coal and oil. Instead, it will be a steady layering of renewable energy atop a fossil-heavy base, reflecting both growth needs and climate urgency. Alongside this, green industrial policy is gaining traction, with BRICS members seeking to build economic security through clean technologies.
China looms large in this new geopolitics simultaneously the world top emitter and a supplier of solar panels and electric vehicles to much of the South. Some nations see its rise as an opportunity, others as a risk of over-dependence. What is emerging, however is a patchwork of green alliances that could strengthen political coalitions in years ahead.
Rebuilding Bandung Spirit
The Western world, mired in its own “polycrisis” of failing institutions and rising militarism, offers little stability. For the Global South, this turbulence may be a chance to rewrite the rules of global governance forge new green partnerships, and assert multipolar leadership. But unity remains the essential missing ingredient.
As past experience shows, solidarity does not emerge on its own it must be actively rebuilt. Civil society and Southern governments alike face the task of amplifying shared struggles, resisting divide-and-rule tactics, and shaping a green development agenda rooted in justice and prosperity. Only then can today’s fragile coalitions transform crisis into lasting power for the Global South.