Brics summit in Brazil tries to reinvent collective approach to world’s problems | Jonathan Watts

President Lula rebukes wealthy countries for retreating on climate and trade but bloc is divided and unbalanced

As the US retreats from the international stage, the most powerful political alliance in the global south has come together in Brazil this week to try to revive and reinvent a collective approach to the world's problems.

The summit of the Brics group of nations at the Museum of Contemporary Art on the edge of Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro is both a dress rehearsal for the Belem Cop30 UN climate conference in November and a rebuke to wealthier countries that have withdrawn to bunkers, launched missiles and choked off aid to poorer regions.