Even in the original five-country format, BRICS looked like a formidable energy conglomerate. It included the world’s largest hydrocarbons exporter (Russia) and the largest consumer of energy resources (China). After the expansion on January 1, 2024, the group emerged as a real energy giant.
With the addition of the three hydrocarbon powers, BRICS now holds about 40 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves and more than 50 percent of gas reserves. On the demand end, the group accounts for 47 percent of the planet’s primary energy consumption, almost 50 percent above that of the G7 countries (including the European Union).
It is a hard fact that the centre of energy consumption is shifting from the developed countries, united under the G7 brand, to the so-called ‘emerging markets.’ But the scale of that transformation over the last thirty years has been truly monumental. In 1992, the G7 countries and formally non-EU countries consumed 174.5 exajoules of primary energy, providing just over half of global demand; in 2022, the group’s consumption grew by just 11 percent and its share fell to 32 percent. Overall, global energy demand jumped 73 percent over the three decades.
In 1992, the nations that are currently members of the BRICS group used just 95.3 exajoules, or 27 percent of the world’s primary energy, which was just over a half of what the current G7 members (including the EU) consumed. Thirty years later, the BRICS’ energy demand surged by 190 percent to 276 exajoules, and its share of the total exceeded 45 percent. In other words, the roles of First World and ‘developing’ world leaders reversed.
The energy balances of the G7 and BRICS countries are very different. BRICS is a stronghold of coal consumption, primarily due to China and India, whose energy consumption is dominated by coal. As a result, BRICS is the source of 70 percent of global coal demand, which was five times the share of the G7, including the EU, by the end of 2022.
