Platforms for Regional Arrangements: Exploring the Environmental Route

In spite of the rising prominence of regionalism in the global economy in recent periods, there is as yet no horizontal platform that brings together all the key regional integration arrangements. Far more headway has been observed in other regional tracks such as platforms for regional development banks as well as regional financing arrangements. Perhaps more work needs to be directed at exploring the modalities and scenarios of how the “integration of integrations” platforms could be launched in the world economy. The current article builds on some of the work in this area undertaken by BRICS+ Analytics, with key insight this time related to the possibilities of creating platforms for regional integration arrangements in the sphere of environmental policy coordination.

In terms of the sequence of the evolution of platforms for regional integration blocs, perhaps the most logical and feasible would be their progression from the level of pan-continental blocs to mega-regionals and/or the scale of the Global South, culminating in the formation of a platform for regional arrangements at the global level. In case such a pan-continental formation were to launch such a sequence from Eurasia, the possible foundation for the integration of integrations could be the SAGES/SCO+ platform expanding subsequently into a broader BEAMS formation within the BRICS+ framework and then this momentum being carried over by the developing economies into the G20 via the creation of an R20/”regional 20” platform for regional blocs. Such a sequencing would be predicated on the understanding that an R20 platform at the global level would need to be preceded by a critical mass of “integration of integrations” at the continental and trans-continental levels.

There may also be the scenario of the sequence starting from either the BRICS+/BEAMS level and then propagating to the global level of the G20/R20 – this would be more likely in case the BRICS were to finally translate the pattern of BRICS+ summits with the participation of regional blocs into a pragmatic trade-oriented platform. There could also be a possibility of such a platform being launched by the G20, perhaps through a joint motion coming from the EU and the African Union. Such a possibility would become significantly more likely if other regional blocs such as Mercosur or ASEAN would follow the African Union in becoming full-fledged members of the G20.

Apart from the G20, there may be other global platforms and organizations that could jump-start the “integration of integrations” integration process in the world economy. The most obvious possibility in the trade sphere is the WTO and in fact some of the proposals on WTO have pointed to the need for closer and systemic coordination of this global organization with regional integration blocs. Another possibility is the UN becoming the launch pad for the integration of integrations, particularly given the presence of regional blocs and the regional principle in UN governance – this scenario has been advanced by Professor Jeffrey Sachs. There may also be platforms for inter-civilizational dialogue that could create such forums for regional organizations – one such possibility is the SCO+ platform for inter-civilizational dialogue proposed by the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

One of the scenarios that would accord well with current trends is the platform for integration of integrations emerging from a combination of bilateral deals between regional blocs – recent agreements between the EU and Mercosur as well as EFTA and Mercosur have the potential to propagate into a wider effort to create a network for regional integration arrangements. This is all the more likely given the emergence of platforms such as FIT Partnership (with all EFTA members being part of that platform) and P4M (EU being a founding member).

There is also of course the mega-regional route for the creation of a platform for regional arrangements – the recent consultations between RCEP and the CPTPP hosted by China within the framework of APEC Ministerial meetings in 2026 are indicative of such a possibility. The mega-regional track may be fraught with risks, however, including the division of the “integration of integrations” between the largely Global South and Global North-oriented sub-groups and platforms. In such a bi-polar scenario the integration of integrations platform for the Global South could be represented by the BEAMS/BRICS+ amalgamation of blocs, while the Global North-related platform could then be composed of such blocs as the EU, EFTA, CPTPP, USMCA and ANZCERTA. Greater activism in building more North-South region-to-region and RTA-to-RTA agreements (including on the basis of mega-regional forums such as APEC) would mitigate the risks of such a polarization in the aggregation of regional blocs.

One of the most promising tracks in launching the “integration of integrations” format may have to do with environmental policy coordination. The regional scale of policy coordination across RTAs is more attuned to the exigencies of addressing environmental policy coordination as the level of national economies is often insufficient to address environmental spillover effects. One possibility then is the formation of a horizontal platform for regional integration arrangements within the framework of UN’s Conference for the Parties (COP) conference – the supreme decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In fact, the scale of participation of regional blocs such as ASEAN and Mercosur in COP conferences has increased substantially in recent years, with the Latin American bloc forming a joint Mercosur climate negotiating group during the COP26 conference.

Another potential environmental track for the regional integration blocs would be the G20, but rather than a separate regional R20 engagement group, a platform for regional arrangements could be launched within the already existing engagement groups that focus on issues related to environmental policy coordination. One such engagement group is the Oceans 20 (O20) group that is dedicated to safeguarding marine biodiversity and sustainable growth in the global ocean economy (Blue Economy). The O20 group was launched in 2022 under Indonesia’s presidency in the G20 to address gaps in ocean management and environmental policy regulation and was transformed into a permanent engagement group under Brazil’s G20 presidency. One of the first steps in onboarding the regional integrations blocs into the O20 framework could be their participation in the OCEANS20 Dialogues. Apart from regional integration arrangements such as ASEAN or Mercosur, oceanic blocs from the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian oceans could participate in O20 meetings. Accordingly, within the framework of O20 there could be a case for a platform for regional oceanic arrangements – potential participants may include the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) (Indian ocean), APEC (Pacific Ocean), ZOPACAS (South Atlantic).

Overall, the above scenario analysis suggests that there is no lack of possible modalities of bringing together regional integration arrangements. The environmental route to building platforms for regional integration arrangements appears to be particularly promising – it is in line with the trends in environmental policy coordination and is unlikely to engender as much of an opposition from the key stakeholders at the COP/G20 level compared to issues related to trade liberalization. The creation of a platform for small economies and middle powers also opens additional gateways to launching platforms for inter-regional dialogue. In fact, it may well turn out that not one but several such platforms for regional arrangements could arise – in every such case this would serve to open new venues for economic diplomacy and for breaking the gridlocks observed at the levels of global institutions and state-vs-state Realpolitik.

Yaroslav Lissovolik is Founder of BRICS+ Analytics.