Balancing Growth, Equity and Environment: A Temporal Evaluation of Sustainability in BRICS Economies

This research investigates the sustainable development trajectories of the BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – and the group’s recent members, namely Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Iran, and Indonesia. The analysis focuses on the three fundamental pillars of sustainability: the social, economic, and environmental dimensions, over the period 2000–2022. The construction of an interdisciplinary framework, based on a few indicators such as poverty rates and education levels in the field, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and unemployment rates in the economic sphere, and CO2 emissions and natural resource use in the environmental sector, enables the research to make a comparative and temporal analysis of the sustainability performance of these emerging economies. Results document diversified patterns of development, with impressive economic progress, pervasive social inequalities, and increasing environmental pressures. Research further points to structural divergence among the initial BRICS members and new entrants to highlight the limits of such economies in combining social inclusion, protection of the environment, and economic growth. These results form part of the broader literature on sustainable development among the emerging economies and raise critical questions regarding the long-term sustainability of the BRICS model of advancing global sustainability objectives.