BRICS condemns EU carbon tax

BRICS countries on Tuesday (August 18, 2026) opposed what they described as “unilateral, punitive, discriminatory and protectionist” climate measures, including the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms (CBAMs), while calling for a significant increase in international funding to help developing countries adapt to climate change.

The positions were contained in the joint statement adopted at the 12th BRICS Environment Ministers’ Meeting in New Delhi, held under India’s chairship. The Ministers specifically said that carbon border measures such as CBAMs could “undermine developing countries’ efforts to address climate change and build resilience”.

The statement comes as the European Union’s CBAM entered its definitive phase from January 1 this year. The mechanism requires importers of carbon-intensive products, consisting of iron and steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, hydrogen and electricity, to account for the carbon emissions associated with their production. The EU says the measure is intended to prevent “carbon leakage” — the shifting of carbon-intensive production outside the bloc because of differences in climate policies.

India is among the countries with significant exposure to the mechanism, particularly through its steel exports. A recent analysis found that iron and steel account for about 90% of India’s exports to the EU that fall within the CBAM framework. A June 2026 analysis in Nature Climate Change, based on shipment-level trade data and facility-level emissions estimates, found that high-emission Indian steel firms had reduced their export quantities and revenues to the EU during the CBAM reporting phase, while lower-emission firms maintained their export levels. 

The BRICS position therefore comes as the EU and India move to implement a free trade agreement negotiated earlier this year, while Indian exporters face the additional carbon-related compliance requirements in the European market.

The Ministers also called for an urgent increase in adaptation finance from developed countries. They said support should be “new, additional, predictable, adequate and accessible,” and should be provided through grants and concessional finance without increasing the financial vulnerabilities of developing countries. They urged developed countries to meet the commitment agreed at the UN climate conference in 2025 to triple adaptation finance to developing countries by 2035.

Adaptation finance is used to help countries and communities cope with climate impacts that can no longer be avoided, including measures to strengthen water security, agriculture, infrastructure, disaster preparedness and climate-resilient livelihoods. It differs from mitigation finance, which is directed towards reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

The demand assumes significance ahead of the UN climate conference, COP31, in Turkey in November. Adaptation finance was among the issues left unresolved at the June climate talks in Bonn – an annual forerunner to Conference of the Parties (COP) deliberations — with negotiations on several finance-related questions failing to produce agreement.

The BRICS statement also stressed that adaptation finance should be easier for developing countries to access and that delivery and impact of such support should be tracked.

Much of India’s climate-finance requirement is increasingly linked to adapting to heat, erratic rainfall, floods, droughts and other climate impacts, while adaptation has historically received a smaller share of climate finance than mitigation.