UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — UN charts course on warming-limit breach

Question 1

Under the Paris Agreement, the foremost long-term temperature goal, as set out in Article 2.1(a), is expressed in which one of the following ways?

Accepted Answer

Holding the rise in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C

Answer

Holding the rise in global average temperature to below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, treating 2°C as a permitted temporary ceiling

Answer

Holding the rise in global average temperature to well below 2°C above 1990 levels, while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C

Answer

Holding the rise in global average temperature to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, the 1.5°C effort binding only on developed country Parties

Question 2

With reference to the structure of the Paris Agreement, consider the following:
1. Every Party is required to prepare, communicate and maintain successive nationally determined contributions, which are to be communicated at five-yearly intervals.
2. Although adopted in December 2015, it entered into force in 2016, less than a year after its adoption.
3. It fixes uniform, legally binding quantified emission-reduction targets for developed country Parties, listed in an annex to the Agreement itself.
4. A Party may withdraw only after three years from the date the Agreement enters into force for it, and such withdrawal takes effect one year after the depositary receives the notification.
Which of the above is/are correctly identified?

Accepted Answer

1, 2 and 4

Answer

1 and 3

Answer

2, 3 and 4

Answer

1 and 4 only

Question 3

The COP30 outcome established a new work programme to scrutinise whether global investment and funding flows are consistent with the Paris Agreement's objectives. This work programme is anchored in which provision of the Agreement?

Accepted Answer

Article 9, dealing with the provision of resources by developed country Parties

Answer

Article 6, dealing with voluntary cooperative approaches and market mechanisms

Answer

Article 8, dealing with loss and damage associated with adverse climate impacts

Answer

Article 14, dealing with the periodic global stocktake of collective progress

Question 4

The UNEP Emissions Gap Report titled 'Off Target', assessed in Nairobi in November 2025, was which edition in that report series?

Accepted Answer

The 16th edition

Answer

The 10th edition

Answer

The 13th edition

Answer

The 21st edition

Question 5

In UNEP's 'Limiting Overshoot' assessment, the 'overshoot, peak and decline' pathway is best described as which one of the following?

Accepted Answer

Immediate and sustained cuts to greenhouse gases including methane on the road to net zero, followed by sustained net-negative emissions that bring temperatures back down

Answer

Permitting emissions to peak by 2035 and decline thereafter, in a manner that keeps warming below the 1.5°C mark at all times without recourse to carbon removals

Answer

Stabilising warming at whatever peak level is reached and adapting to it permanently, with removals used only to offset residual aviation and shipping emissions

Answer

Deploying solar radiation management to cap the peak, with emissions thereafter declining at rates determined solely by each Party's own contribution

Question 6

With reference to the Global Tipping Points Report 2025, consider the following:
1. Warm-water coral reefs are the first system assessed to have crossed their thermal tipping point, with die-off affecting more than 84 per cent of reefs across 82 countries.
2. Dieback of the Amazon rainforest and collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation are assessed as possible below 2°C of warming.
3. Land permafrost and the sub-polar gyre are placed at thresholds of around 1.5°C.
4. Mountain glaciers and boreal forests are assessed as having already tipped, ahead of coral reefs.
Which of the above is/are correctly identified?

Accepted Answer

1, 2 and 3

Answer

1 and 2 only

Answer

2, 3 and 4

Answer

1, 3 and 4

Question 7

The Global Tipping Points Report 2025, drawing on 160 scientists from 23 countries, was produced under the leadership of researchers based at which institution?

Accepted Answer

The Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom

Answer

The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany

Answer

The Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University, Sweden

Answer

The Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics, United Kingdom

Question 8

With reference to the disengagement of the United States from international climate arrangements, consider the following:
1. It notified the UN Secretary-General of withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in January 2025, and that withdrawal took effect in January 2026.
2. An earlier withdrawal by it from the Paris Agreement had taken effect in November 2020, and it accepted the Agreement again in February 2021.
3. The announcement of its withdrawal from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change itself came in January 2026.
4. Its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement became effective three months after the depositary received the notification.
Which of the above is/are NOT correct?

Accepted Answer

4 only

Answer

1 and 3

Answer

2 only

Answer

2 and 4

Question 9

In January 2026 a White House memorandum named 31 United Nations entities from which the United States would cease participation or funding, to the extent permitted by law. Consider the following entities:
1. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
2. The International Atomic Energy Agency
3. UN-Habitat
4. The UN Conference on Trade and Development
Which of the above is/are correctly identified as figuring in that list?

Accepted Answer

1, 3 and 4

Answer

1, 2 and 3

Answer

2 and 4 only

Answer

3 and 4 only

Question 10

Among the following components of the international climate regime, which one came into existence earliest?

Accepted Answer

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, set up jointly by UNEP and the World Meteorological Organization

Answer

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, adopted at the Earth Summit held at Rio de Janeiro

Answer

The Kyoto Protocol, adopted as a protocol to the parent climate change convention

Answer

The Green Climate Fund, created by the parties to the convention under the Cancun Agreements

Question 11

The Green Climate Fund, with its Secretariat at Songdo in the Republic of Korea, is governed by a Board of country representatives numbering how many?

Accepted Answer

24 members, drawn equally from developed and developing countries

Answer

12 members, drawn equally from developed and developing countries

Answer

32 members, with a majority reserved for developing countries

Answer

48 members, one nominated by each contributing country

UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — UN charts course on warming-limit breach

Q1. Under the Paris Agreement, the foremost long-term temperature goal, as set out in Article 2.1(a), is expressed in which one of the following ways?

Q3. The COP30 outcome established a new work programme to scrutinise whether global investment and funding flows are consistent with the Paris Agreement's objectives. This work programme is anchored in which provision of the Agreement?

Q4. The UNEP Emissions Gap Report titled 'Off Target', assessed in Nairobi in November 2025, was which edition in that report series?

Q5. In UNEP's 'Limiting Overshoot' assessment, the 'overshoot, peak and decline' pathway is best described as which one of the following?

Q7. The Global Tipping Points Report 2025, drawing on 160 scientists from 23 countries, was produced under the leadership of researchers based at which institution?

Q10. Among the following components of the international climate regime, which one came into existence earliest?

Q11. The Green Climate Fund, with its Secretariat at Songdo in the Republic of Korea, is governed by a Board of country representatives numbering how many?