UPSC Prelims 2022 Q41: Climate Action Tracker — Explained
"Climate Action Tracker" which monitors the emission reduction pledges of different countries is a:
- Database created by coalition of research organisations
- Wing of "International Panel of Climate Change"
- Committee under "United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change"
- Agency promoted and financed by United Nations Environment Programme and World Bank
Answer: (a) Database created by coalition of research organisations
Statement-wise explanation
- a: correct — The Climate Action Tracker (CAT) is an independent scientific analysis run jointly by two research organisations, Climate Analytics and NewClimate Institute. It has been running since 2009. Earlier consortium members were the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (2009–2016) and Ecofys (2009–2019). It covers 34 countries and the EU, together about 85% of global emissions, and checks their targets, policies and NDCs against the Paris goal of 1.5°C.
- b: incorrect — No body called the "International Panel of Climate Change" exists. The real body is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), set up in 1988 by WMO and UNEP. The IPCC assesses published climate science in Assessment Reports through its Working Groups. It does not rate individual countries' pledges, and CAT is not part of it.
- c: incorrect — The UNFCCC's own bodies are intergovernmental, made up of Parties. Examples are the COP and the two permanent subsidiary bodies, SBSTA and SBI. CAT is a non-governmental research project outside the treaty system. It publishes independent assessments, often timed to COP meetings.
- d: incorrect — CAT is not a UN agency, and it is not run or financed jointly by UNEP and the World Bank. Its partners are two independent research institutes. UNEP does publish its own assessment of the pledge gap, the annual Emissions Gap Report, which is a separate product from CAT.
How to eliminate
Mostly this is a question of knowing the fact, but two clues help. First, the body in the second option is misnamed. The IPCC is the 'Intergovernmental' Panel on Climate Change, not the 'International Panel of Climate Change', and UPSC rarely makes the correct answer a wrongly named body. Even with the right name, the IPCC assesses science and does not grade countries' pledges. Second, UN bodies and treaty committees seldom 'name and shame' individual governments' pledges, because they work by consensus among those same governments. A tracker that openly rates countries as 'Insufficient' or 'Critically insufficient' is much more likely to be an independent, non-governmental effort. That points to the research-coalition option. Fact to remember: CAT = Climate Analytics + NewClimate Institute, since 2009.
Know more
Who checks climate pledges?
Under the Paris Agreement (2015), each country writes its own pledge, the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). Nothing in the treaty forces a pledge to be strong enough. So several bodies, official and independent, measure the gap between pledges and the 1.5°C / well-below-2°C goal.
| Body / product | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Climate Action Tracker (CAT) | Independent research coalition (Climate Analytics + NewClimate Institute), since 2009 | Rates 34 countries + EU on targets, policies and fair share; estimates warming with the MAGICC model |
| IPCC | Intergovernmental, set up 1988 by WMO and UNEP | Assesses published science in Assessment Reports; does not rate countries |
| UNEP Emissions Gap Report | Annual UN report | Global gap between pledged and needed emissions |
| UNFCCC NDC Synthesis Report | Treaty secretariat | Adds up all submitted NDCs |
| Global Stocktake (Paris Art. 14) | Treaty process, every 5 years | Collective progress review; first concluded at COP28 (2023) |
CAT's rating scale (five levels): 1.5°C Paris Agreement compatible → Almost sufficient → Insufficient → Highly insufficient → Critically insufficient.
CAT's 'thermometer'. CAT turns national actions into a projected global temperature for 2100. Its COP26 update (9 November 2021) estimated:
- current policies: about 2.7°C
- 2030 targets alone: about 2.4°C
- all net-zero pledges fully met (optimistic case): about 1.8°C
CAT called the difference between long-term net-zero promises and weak 2030 targets a 'credibility gap'.
Similar trackers UNPC-style questions use: Climate Change Performance Index (Germanwatch, NewClimate Institute, CAN), Climate Transparency's report on G20 countries, and the Environmental Performance Index (Yale/Columbia).
In the news
At COP26 in Glasgow (November 2021), Climate Action Tracker's 'Glasgow's 2030 credibility gap' update was widely reported. It projected about 2.4°C of warming under 2030 pledges even after India's net-zero-by-2070 announcement and other new targets. This put the tracker in the news a few months before Prelims 2022.
NCERT Concepts to Revise
- Nationally determined contributions: The 'emission reduction pledges' in the question are NDCs, the thing the tracker assesses.
- Paris Agreement: The tracker measures pledges against the Paris Agreement's temperature goals.
- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: One option claims the tracker is a UNFCCC committee; knowing what the UNFCCC is helps test that.
- Net zero: The tracker also rates countries' net-zero targets, part of its 'credibility gap' analysis.