This article provides a comparative analysis of the features of the national legislation of the BRICS countries that regulates the issues of legal responsibility for environmental offenses. The authors consider aspects of the normative consolidation of the rights and obligations of citizens in the field of environmental protection, the types of legal liability and the applicable sanctions for violations of environmental standards provided for by the national legislation of all BRICS countries. The study of the environmental legislation of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) reveals a number of general and specific directions in environmental policy with the aim of enriching the said countries with positive experience, overcoming difficulties in the organization of environmental management and environmental protection, the prevention of possible errors in the context of global economic and environmental crises, and making recommendations for environmental improvement. Improving the legislation of the BRICS countries in the field of legal liability for environmental offenses by taking into account the positive experience of these countries will help increase the effectiveness of prevention and rectification of negative consequences for the environment in both the Russian Federation and the BRICS association as a whole. Consequently, a comparative legal analysis of national environmental legislation of BRICS countries suggests that the general principles of responsibility for environmental offenses are inherent in all these countries, despite their fundamental differences in history, culture and geographical location.