Explained: Who are BASIC, the climate change alliance whose meeting India just attended?

The BASIC countries -- a grouping of Brazil, South Africa, India and China -- wields considerable heft purely because of the size of the economies and populations of the member countries.

BASIC climate change, BASIC countries, Climate change conference, Prakash Javadekar, CoP 25 — Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar represented India (Source: Twitter/PIB)

The BASIC countries — a grouping of Brazil, South Africa, India and China — held their 28th Ministerial meeting on Climate Change between August 14 and August 16 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. India was represented by Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar, who underlined the importance of the grouping in “making the (2015) Paris (climate) Agreement accepted by all countries in its true letter and spirit”.