Content -- Nordic Council of Ministers' Preface -- Authors' Note -- Summary -- 1. BASIC takes the stage -- 2. The origins of BASIC: Developing country roots and the image of emerging powers -- 2.1 Out of the shadows -- 2.2 Normative roots in the G77 -- 2.3 The growth of BASIC -- 3. The BASIC countries -- 3.1 Brazil -- 3.2 South Africa -- 3.3 India -- 3.4 China -- 4. BASIC's emergence and wider geopolitical change -- 4.1 Reasons for emerging economies to cooperate -- 4.2 Different constellations of emerging economies -- 4.3 BASIC in the big picture -- 5. BASIC and a climate agreement: Disunity or shared vision? -- 5.1 Cooperation and contention -- 5.2 Does BASIC have a shared vision? -- 5.3 On carbon budgets and equity -- Dividing the carbon budget -- 5.4 What does this imply for BASIC's future? -- 6. Trends and developments: Where is BASIC heading? -- Sammanfattning -- Appendix A: Methods and conceptual framework -- References.