India-Brazil Renewable Energy Relations

Explaining Emerging Power’s Cooperation in Polarized and Divided World Orders

Abstract

As a leading power in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region, Brazil is increasingly engaging with India’s renewable energy diplomacy amid a fragmented global order. At the multilateral level, Brazil collaborates with India in forums such as BRICS, G20, and IBSA to address climate change and advocate for reforms in international governance. Bilaterally, the two countries have developed a strategic partnership, launching joint projects to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by promoting renewable energy sources such as biomass and solar power. While existing studies have focused on trade and economic ties between India and Brazil as emerging powers, environmental cooperation—particularly in renewable energy—has remained underexplored.
This paper seeks to fill that gap by analyzing Brazil’s evolving response to India’s renewable energy initiatives, dividing the relationship into three phases: distance (2009–2016), conservative resonance (2016–2022) and renewed alignment (2023-present). Using a process tracing approach, this study demonstrates that despite leadership changes and China’s rising influence in the Global South, India-Brazil renewable energy cooperation has steadily deepened their collaboration. India’s approach is shaped by both normative commitments—such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—and pragmatic considerations including economic opportunities and technological complementarity. Brazil’s response, in turn, reflects a convergence of interests in using renewable energy as a tool for sustainable development and energy security.
This paper contributes two keyways. First, it highlights the geo-economic constrains and possibilities influencing India’s engagement in LAC region. Second, it underscores how both countries use existing international institutions not to challenge the Western-led system outright, but to advance national interests within it. In this context, renewable energy cooperation between India and Brazil serves as a vehicle for a pragmatic and interest driven South-South diplomacy that reflects the complexities of the current polarized world order.