UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — As the COP 31 kicked off in Turkiye on Monday, a quiz on the annual gatherings which have delivered some landmark treaties to address the climate crisis

Q1. With reference to the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above are correct?

  1. The Paris Agreement lists, in an annex, a legally binding emission-reduction target for each developed-country Party.
  2. Under the Kyoto Protocol, quantified emission limitation commitments were legally binding only on the Parties listed in its Annex B.
  3. Under the Paris Agreement, each Party itself decides the level of ambition of its mitigation contribution; it is not assigned through negotiation among Parties.
  4. The Paris Agreement keeps the Kyoto Protocol's division of Parties into one group with binding targets and another with no mitigation obligation.
  • A. 1, 2 and 3 only
  • B. 2 and 3 only
  • C. 2, 3 and 4 only
  • D. 1 and 4 only

Q2. Consider the following statements: Which of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

  1. Every Party to the Paris Agreement is legally obliged to prepare, communicate and maintain successive nationally determined contributions.
  2. Under the Paris Agreement, a Party that misses the mitigation target in its own NDC is penalised by the Agreement's compliance committee.
  • A. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
  • B. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
  • C. Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
  • D. Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct

Q3. Which one of the following correctly states the long-term temperature goal set out in the Paris Agreement?

  • A. Hold warming well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C
  • B. Hold warming well below 2°C above 1990 levels and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C
  • C. Hold warming below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels as a firm ceiling, with 2°C treated as an outer limit
  • D. Limit warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to cap concentrations at 450 ppm

Q4. Consider the following facts about the Paris Agreement: (i) it is a legally binding treaty; (ii) it sets a collective goal of holding warming well below 2°C and pursuing efforts towards 1.5°C; (iii) each Party's mitigation contribution is nationally determined; (iv) it could enter into force only after ratification by at least 55 Parties accounting for at least 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Which of the following inferences can validly be drawn from the above facts?

  1. A treaty can be legally binding while leaving the level of each Party's mitigation effort to that Party's own choice.
  2. Because the Agreement is legally binding, each Party is individually obliged to keep its own emissions on a pathway consistent with 1.5°C.
  3. Ratification by a large number of countries with small emissions could not, by itself, have brought the Agreement into force.
  • A. 2 and 3 only
  • B. 1 and 2 only
  • C. 1, 2 and 3
  • D. 1 and 3 only

Q5. With reference to the institutions created under the UNFCCC process to address loss and damage, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. The Fund for responding to Loss and Damage is meant to support all Parties equally, developed countries included, in responding to loss and damage.
  2. The Fund for responding to Loss and Damage was established at COP27 through decisions taken both under the Convention and under the Paris Agreement.
  3. The Warsaw International Mechanism was dissolved when the Fund was created, and its functions were transferred to the Fund.
  • A. 2 and 3 only
  • B. 1 and 3 only
  • C. 2 only
  • D. 1 only

Q6. Consider the following statements: Which of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

  1. Parties set up a dedicated Fund for responding to Loss and Damage at COP27 even though a UNFCCC mechanism on loss and damage had existed since COP19.
  2. The Warsaw International Mechanism was designed mainly to enhance knowledge, strengthen coordination and facilitate action and support on loss and damage, not to operate as a dedicated source of finance.
  • A. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
  • B. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
  • C. Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
  • D. Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct

Q7. Consider the following assertion: 'The Kyoto Protocol is better understood as the end-point of a multi-year negotiating process than as the product of a single conference.' Which of the statements given below support/supports the above assertion?

  1. The Protocol set legally binding emission limits only for industrialised countries and economies in transition.
  2. Two years before the Protocol was adopted, the first COP had launched talks on strengthening developed countries' commitments.
  3. A subsidiary negotiating group set up by an earlier COP drafted the text that was later adopted as the Protocol.
  • A. 3 only
  • B. 1 and 2 only
  • C. 1, 2 and 3
  • D. 2 and 3 only

Q8. Phasing down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) is agreed under a treaty on the ozone layer, yet it is counted as a significant climate measure. Which one of the following best explains this?

  • A. HFCs are potent greenhouse gases that came into wide use as substitutes for ozone-depleting chemicals
  • B. HFCs are released chiefly by coal combustion, so cutting them also cuts carbon dioxide output
  • C. HFCs absorb incoming ultraviolet radiation in the stratosphere and re-emit it as heat near the ground
  • D. HFCs destroy stratospheric ozone, and a thinner ozone layer lets the lower atmosphere trap more heat