Rio de Janeiro, July 7, 2025 — In a wide-ranging address at the 3rd session of the 17th BRICS Summit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for pragmatic, inclusive solutions to climate change and global health challenges. Speaking alongside leaders from Brazil, China, India, and South Africa, Lavrov emphasised Russia’s commitment to energy transition, sustainable development, and healthcare cooperation under the BRICS framework.

Climate Commitments and COP30 Preparation

Lavrov hailed a global shift toward “more pragmatic approaches to energy transition,” urging recognition of diverse national energy strategies.

He criticised unilateral sanctions for hampering global climate efforts and reaffirmed Russia’s target of carbon neutrality by 2060, outlined in its national Climate Doctrine.

He also endorsed the outcome of COP29 in Baku, calling its climate funding goals a step forward despite what he described as Western reluctance to support the Global South.

Lavrov urged BRICS nations to hold donor countries accountable for meeting their pledges and highlighted the group’s readiness to contribute meaningfully to COP30 in Berlin this November.

Health Collaboration and WHO Reform Proposals

Turning to healthcare, Lavrov revisited the BRICS bloc’s history of cooperation, notably its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He proposed coordinated reforms to the World Health Organisation (WHO), warning against geopolitical influence over biotechnology research.

The Russian official spotlighted several BRICS health initiatives, including:

• Expansion of research on tuberculosis and public health
• Brazil’s proposal to eradicate socially determined diseases
• Progress in nuclear medicine, cancer diagnostics, and radiopharmaceuticals

Lavrov also emphasized Russia’s ongoing support for African nations, citing programs in 15 countries to establish laboratories and produce vaccines.

He announced upcoming international epidemiological response drills to be hosted in Kronstadt, near St Petersburg, in September.

A Forward-Looking Vision

Lavrov’s remarks echoed the broader theme of the summit: forging collective action rooted in equality, innovation, and resilience.

As BRICS looks ahead to future global negotiations, Moscow positions itself as a staunch advocate for inclusive progress across the climate and health sectors.

Thank you, Mr President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva,

Your Excellencies,

Ladies and gentlemen,

We welcome the emerging trend towards more pragmatic approaches to energy transition with account taken of the full range of national positions. This endeavour must not discriminate against any energy sources or technologies to the detriment of socioeconomic development.

It is likewise clear that all kinds of unilateral sanctions severely undermine efforts to implement the Paris Agreement. In line with the national greenhouse emissions reduction target approved by President Vladimir Putin in 2020, Russia is implementing programmes to cut greenhouse gas emissions, to introduce innovative technologies, to improve energy efficiency, and to promote energy conservation. Russia’s Climate Doctrine envisions achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.

We support the outcomes of the 29th session of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP29) held in Baku last year. Its central goal was to coordinate a new collective climate funding goal. Despite our Western colleagues’ attempts to evade responsibility to failing to assist the Global South, a balanced final decision with specific resource allocation targets has been adopted. The key now is to ensure that the West’s commitments do not merely remain on paper as happened with their pledge to provide $100 billion annually, a point just highlighted by the distinguished Prime Minister of Egypt. Scaling up efforts to mobilise the necessary funds and to transfer technologies to developing countries is crucial to enhancing their contribution to global emission reduction efforts. 

The Declaration, agreed upon under Brazil’s BRICS presidency, reinforces active BRICS projects on climate change and sustainable development, laying a solid foundation for further joint action, including in preparation for the 30th  UNFCCC COP in Berlin this November.

The new technological and economic paradigm demands special approaches to human capital development, something that was discussed in-depth today. A decade ago, the participants of 2015 BRICS Summit Declaration in Ufa emphasised the importance of cooperation in addressing global health challenges. In response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, BRICS launched efforts to establish a comprehensive early warning system for mass infectious disease outbreaks.

We propose coordinating BRICS actions on reforming the World Health Organisation to help it refocus on its core mandate of safeguarding global health by combatting diseases and monitoring sanitary and epidemiological situations. At the same time, it is vital to counter attempts by certain countries to subordinate the WHO to their own interests, particularly in the sphere of biotechnologies, by exploiting the organisation for overtly geopolitical purposes. It would be beneficial to use WHO platforms to highlight the significance of BRICS health initiatives, such as the successful work of the BRICS Vaccine Research and Development Centre, the expansion of research networks on tuberculosis and public health, and Brazil’s proposed cooperation mechanism to eradicate socially determined diseases.

Other promising areas include nuclear medicine, training skilled personnel for national healthcare systems, advancing innovations in cancer diagnosis and treatment, and producing radiopharmaceuticals and medical isotopes.

Russia has a long tradition of assisting developing nations in healthcare and infectious disease control. Corresponding programmes, including laboratory establishment and vaccine production, are being implemented in 15 African countries.

In closing, please be advised that international drills for rapid-response teams dealing with epidemiological emergencies will be held in Kronstadt, outside St Petersburg, this September. We look forward to welcoming all our partners there.