The expanded BRICS faces a pivotal moment for global climate leadership, and Brazil's 2025 presidency of the bloc offers a chance to build cross-sectoral coalitions to break through some of the most persistent deadlocks in global climate politics.

This dialogue brings together leaders from government, business, finance, and civil society to leverage the BRICS collective influence for climate solutions that deliver both ecological sustainability and economic development.

With its recent expansion, including major energy producers alongside renewable champions, BRICS now spans the full spectrum of transition challenges and opportunities. The dialogue aims to reimagine the future of climate action post-COP30 in Belém, seeking to mobilize the private sector throughout the BRICS alliance. The program is available below:

Welcome Remarks

09:00 AM

• Julia Dias Leite, CEO at the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI)
• Teresa Borges, Deputy Coordinator for International Relations at the Rio de Janeiro City Hall
• André Clark, Senior Vice President for the Siemens Energy Hub in Latin America and General Manager of Siemens Energy Brazil
• Cintya Feitosa, Lead Specialist in International Strategies at The Climate and Society Institute (iCS)

 

Flash Talk | “Diplomacy across Multiple Chessboards: Brazil on the BRICS Stage”

09:20 AM

• Matias Spektor, Senior Fellow at CEBRI and Full Professor and Founder of the School of International Relations at Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV)

 

Panel 1 | “Energy Producers and Consumers: Managing Transitions in an Expanded BRICS”

09:35 AM

• Mariana Espécie, Special Advisor to the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy and Chair of the BRICS Energy Research Cooperation Platform
• André Clark, Senior Vice President for the Siemens Energy Hub in Latin America and General Manager of Siemens Energy Brazil
• Liu Dehua, Director of the China-Brazil Center for Climate Change and Energy Technology Innovation at Tsinghua University
• Tian Ming, General Manager of Investment Department at CHIMBUSCO

Moderator: Rafaela Guedes, Senior Fellow at CEBRI and International Consultant at APCO Worldwide

 

Fireside Chat | “Mobilizing Finance and Private Sector Engagement for NDC Implementation within BRICS”

11:10 AM

• Ana Paula Zettel, BNDES
• Constanza Negri, Manager of Business Diplomacy and Trade Competitiveness at the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), Sherpa for the B20 and CEBRICS

Moderator: Feliciano de Sá Guimarães, Academic Director at CEBRI, Professor of the Institute of International Relations at USP and Editor-in-Chief at CEBRI-Revista

 

Panel 2 | “Digital Transformation for Sustainable Development in BRICS”

11:40 AM

• Laudemar Gonçalves de Aguiar Neto, Secretary for Trade Promotion, Science, Technology, Innovation and Culture (SECIC) at the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Sameep Shastri, Vice-Chairman at the BRICS Chamber of Commerce and Industry and President of the Confederation of Young Leaders (CYL)
• Caroline Ranzani, Director of Institutional Relations at Elea Data Centers
• Virgílio Costa, Director for the Mining and Metals Industry at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)

Moderator: Danielle Ayres, Director of the Department of Information Security at the Institutional Security Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Brazil

 

Keynote Speech | “BRICS in Brazil and the road to COP30”

12:40 AM

• Augusto Castro, Advisor to the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

 

Panel 3 | “Achieving Food Security and Climate Resilience”

02:00 PM

• Helena Araújo, Head of Institutional and Government Affairs at BRF and Marfrig
• Alberto Pfeifer, Research Fellow at Insper Agro Global
• Gustavo de Carvalho, Senior Researcher at the African Governance and Diplomacy Programme of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA)

Moderator: Marianna Albuquerque, Professor at the Institute of International Relations and Defense, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (IRID-UFRJ) and Senior Fellow at CEBRI

 

Closing Panel 

03:00 PM

• Izabella Teixeira, Member of CEBRI’s International Advisory Board and Former Brazilian Minister of Environment
• Marcos Caramuru, Member of the International Advisory Board at CEBRI