Organisations and Agreements

Question 1

When was the UN founded

Answer 1

1945
After WW2

Question 2

How many sustainable development goals are there?

Answer 2

17

Question 3

Roles of UN

Answer 3

Peacekeeping
Humanitarian Aid
International Law (universal declaration of human rights)
Sustainable development

Question 4

Successes of UN

Answer 4

90,000 peacekeepers
In 2020 UN’s World Food program provided assistance to 97 million people

Question 5

What was the Kyoto protocol?

Answer 5

International agreement signed in 1997, 37 countries
Aims to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions
Required participating countries to reduce the emissions of six greenhouse gases to below 1990 levels
Expired in 2020, and was replaced by the Paris agreement

Question 6

Why was the Kyoto protocol significant?

Answer 6

First international agreement to legally binding targets, reducing greenhouse gas emissions

Question 7

Positives of the Kyoto protocol

Answer 7

Legally binding
Encouraging development of clean energy technologies (emissions trading)
Economic incentive
Raising awareness
Model for future climate agreement

Question 8

Successes of Kyoto Agreement

Answer 8

Countries which ratified the Kyoto protocol reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 2.4% between 2008 and 2012

Question 9

COP

Answer 9

UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
Annual meeting to respond to the climate emergency

Question 10

Paris Agreement

Answer 10

2015, UN
Legally binding, countries develop their own targets
195 countries agreed to: peak GhG emissions ASAP; keep global temperature increase limited to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels; review progress every 5 years
This includes being net zero by 2050

Question 11

The IPCC’s view on temperature rise

Answer 11

1.5°C would result in far less damage than a 2°C rise

Frequency of heat, waves, droughts, and floods would be less frequent and storm intensity wouldn’t be as great. As a result, the effects of 1.5°C are more manageable than 2°C

Question 12

We need emissions to decrease by what percentage each year until 2030

Answer 12

7%

Question 13

How do you offset carbon emissions?

Answer 13

Increase carbon sinks: forests, peat lands and wetlands

Store vast amounts of carbon to offset any remaining residual emissions that are still in the atmosphere

Net zero

Question 14

Developing nations were promised how much money per year to help cope with the fallout from climate change, at COP 27 in Egypt?

Answer 14

US$100 billion

“Loss and damage funding” for vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters

Question 15

Impact of Ukraine, Russia war on energy security

Answer 15

Concern: food and energy crisis would cause lost focus
Positive: sped up plans to shift to clean power

Question 16

Issues with the Paris Agreement

Answer 16

Fails to set mitigation bar at sufficiently high level
Voluntary national pledges = too soft
Not enough emphasis on emissions from international transport
Too late?
Nations should have a proportional share of their responsibility
A global challenge requires global action, which requires global governance

Question 17

Challenges associated with mitigating climate change

Answer 17

Poorer countries can’t afford alternative sources of energy
Political unrest/economic recession could force countries to give less priority to meeting pledges
More wealthy countries may be unwilling to make lifestyle changes (reducing energy use, using public transport)

Question 18

Emissions in the aviation sector have increased by what percentage between 1990 and 2017?

Answer 18

75%

Question 19

International shipping contributes to what percentage of global emissions of CO2?

Answer 19

4.5%