Energy and Coloniality in BRICS+: Contradictions of Global Governance

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The energy transition has become one of the main axes of contemporary international political disputes. On one hand, the climate emergency pressures governments and multilateral organizations to accelerate decarbonization; on the other, the war in Ukraine and instability in the Middle East reaffirm the persistent centrality of hydrocarbons. In this context, Global South countries occupy a decisive position: they concentrate oil and gas reserves, possess strategic minerals for the production of batteries and solar panels, and hold vast potential in renewable energy. Despite this, their integration into the global energy system remains marked by deep asymmetries.

A decolonial perspective helps to understand this picture. Since the colonial period, energy resources and raw materials have been extracted from peripheral countries to support accumulation in centers of economic and technological power. The oil from the Middle East, the coal from South Africa, and more recently, the lithium from Bolivia and the cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo illustrate this logic. The contemporary discourse of the “green transition” does not necessarily break with this structure: in many cases, it tends to reproduce it. The intensive extraction of critical minerals in the Global South meets the technological demand of the North, without ensuring that the economic or technological benefits remain in the producing territories.

BRICS+, expanded in Johannesburg in 2023, has become a privileged space to observe these tensions. The entry of Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates brought to the group traditional oil economies, while countries like Brazil, India, and South Africa seek to position themselves as leaders in the energy transition, highlighting relatively diversified matrices and significant potential in renewable sources. This composition generates a structural contradiction within the bloc: on one side, carbon states, whose economy and geopolitical influence depend on hydrocarbon exports; on the other, electrostates, which aspire to lead the green agenda by investing in bioenergy, solar, and wind power.

Presidents of Brazil, China, South Africa, India, and the Russian Foreign Minister during the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg (2023). (Photo: Ricardo Stuckert/PR.) Source: BRICS Brazil Portal.

This energy divide reflects historical inequalities. Oil-exporting countries accumulate financial surpluses and strategic influence, while those betting on renewables face the challenge of accessing financing, technology, and value chains dominated by actors from the North. The contrast is clear: the former operate in consolidated and highly profitable markets; the latter depend on investments in innovation and on global governance structures that remain restrictive and exclusionary.

From a decolonial perspective, the energy dilemma of BRICS+ is not only technical, but political. The central issue is not merely replacing fossil fuels with green alternatives, but defining who controls the flows of knowledge, capital, and technology in this transition. The coloniality of power is manifested in the fact that Southern countries continue to provide strategic inputs without holding patents, production systems, or decision-making centers that shape the global energy sector.

Thus, BRICS+ simultaneously expresses cooperation and contradiction. The joint presence of major oil exporters and emerging economies focused on renewables makes the group heterogeneous and, at many times, lacking cohesion. Even so, the debate it hosts reveals a broader dimension: the energy transition, far from being merely a technical process, is permeated by power disputes and the persistence of historical hierarchies. The case of BRICS+, therefore, demonstrates that global energy governance cannot be understood without considering the legacy of coloniality and the structural inequality that shapes international relations.

Editorial Note: In 2025, Brazil holds the rotating presidency of BRICS, coordinating the bloc's political, economic, and cooperation agenda.

Updated information is available on the official website: https://brics.br/pt-br

References

SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT. BRICS Summit 2023: Key Outcomes. Joanesburgo, 2023.

FINANCIAL TIMES. The growing BRICS divide between carbon nations and electrostates. Londres, 2025.

QUIJANO, Aníbal. Colonialidad del poder y clasificación social. Journal of World-Systems Research, v. 6, n. 2, p. 342-386, 2000.

ESCOBAR, Arturo. Pluriversal Politics: The Real and the Possible. Durham: Duke University Press, 2020.

STIMSON CENTER. 2025 BRICS Summit: Takeaways and Projections. Washington, 2025.