Addis Ababa, September 15, 2026 (FMC) — Ethiopia went to the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi with a climate message shaped less by promises than by the question of delivery: how can climate action protect economies, accelerate development and expand opportunity for countries facing the greatest pressures?
For Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, climate policy and economic transformation are not separate tracks. They are increasingly part of the same development equation.
That position was reflected in Ethiopia’s intervention at the summit, where the country connected its Green Legacy Initiative, renewable-energy expansion, electric mobility and efforts to build more resilient agriculture, cities and infrastructure with the wider priorities of BRICS cooperation.
The scale of Ethiopia’s Green Legacy effort gave that argument a particularly concrete foundation.
The country has planted 56 billion seedlings over the past eight years, turning a national environmental initiative into one of the most visible components of its broader climate and development agenda.
But Ethiopia’s proposition at BRICS went beyond the number of seedlings planted.
The larger argument was that climate action should contribute to economic resilience rather than become another burden on countries already facing financing constraints, development gaps and external shocks.
That is why Ethiopia placed adaptation and climate finance alongside economic transformation.
For developing economies, the climate challenge is rarely confined to emissions. It is also about agricultural productivity, water security, resilient infrastructure, energy access, urban development and the fiscal capacity required to withstand increasingly difficult conditions.
Climate policy, in that context, becomes inseparable from development policy.
Ethiopia is seeking to demonstrate that connection through investments in renewable energy and electric mobility while pursuing more resilient approaches to agriculture, cities and infrastructure.
At BRICS, Abiy argued that the grouping is well positioned to contribute to this agenda because it brings together major economies, energy producers and countries experiencing the direct effects of climate change.
That diversity gives BRICS an opportunity to connect climate ambition with the practical realities of development.
For Ethiopia, the next major test of that proposition will come in 2027, when Addis Ababa hosts COP32.
The country has framed the presidency not simply as an international diplomatic responsibility, but as an opportunity to push climate negotiations toward practical outcomes.
Ethiopia wants COP32 to be a COP of delivery and hope, with stronger action on adaptation, practical solutions for countries that need them most and climate finance capable of strengthening economies without deepening their debt burdens.
That last point is particularly important to Ethiopia’s broader BRICS agenda.
Throughout the summit, the country linked development finance with economic resilience, arguing for financing mechanisms that reduce vulnerability to external shocks. In the climate sphere, the same concern takes on another dimension: countries cannot build resilience if climate financing itself becomes a source of unsustainable debt pressure.
This is where Ethiopia’s proposed BRICS coordinating track on the road to Addis becomes significant.
Rather than waiting for COP32 to become another isolated diplomatic moment, Ethiopia proposed a practical process between the BRICS summit and the climate conference to turn shared priorities into areas of agreement.
The idea places BRICS within a longer climate conversation extending toward Addis Ababa.
It also reflects a broader Ethiopian approach to international cooperation: global platforms should produce practical mechanisms, not simply statements of principle.
The climate question increasingly intersects with almost every other issue Ethiopia brought to BRICS.
Renewable energy connects climate action with industrial development. Resilient agriculture connects adaptation with food security. Electric mobility connects technology with urban transformation. Climate finance connects environmental responsibility with the structure of international development finance.
Even emerging technology has a role, with Ethiopia advocating responsible and effective use of new technologies to accelerate climate and development solutions.
Seen from that perspective, Ethiopia’s climate proposition is not a stand-alone environmental agenda.
It is part of a larger attempt to redefine climate action as an engine of development and resilience.
For Africa, the stakes are particularly high.
The continent faces enormous development needs while confronting climate pressures that can intensify vulnerabilities in agriculture, infrastructure, cities and livelihoods. The challenge is therefore not simply to mobilize more climate action, but to ensure that climate finance, technology and international cooperation help African economies build productive and resilient futures.
Ethiopia’s BRICS intervention placed that challenge inside a grouping with significant economic, technological and financial weight.
The road to COP32 now offers an opportunity to turn that conversation into something more practical.
If BRICS can connect its economic capabilities with the climate priorities of developing countries, and if Africa’s own development realities are placed closer to the centre of that effort, climate cooperation can move beyond declarations toward implementation.
That is the proposition Ethiopia carried from New Delhi toward Addis Ababa: climate action should not ask developing countries to choose between protecting the planet and building their economies.
It should help them do both.
And as Ethiopia prepares to host COP32, its BRICS message is increasingly clear: the next chapter of climate diplomacy must be measured not only by what the world promises, but by what countries are able to build, finance and deliver.