This proceedings report captures the first half of the discussion at COP17 hosted in Durban, South Africa, in 2011 where the role of rising powers within the international climate change negotiations was discussed. Panellists in this report have been drawn from Brazil, India, China and South Africa (BASIC countries) to share their expertise on these multidimensional country positions. One of the contributors notes that there are a number of other groupings, including G-77+China, Middle East groups and the small island developing states (SIDS), and that perhaps there have been too much focus on the BASIC countries. Nevertheless, the BASIC group has proven to be influential at the negotiations and each country has done well in terms of their climate change initiatives. Even though this is not a formal group, it maintains a strong voice within the talks, showing cooperation and engagement on a number of different platforms.