Environment practice questions.

Which international body is responsible for assessing and synthesising the scientific research on climate change in order to inform policymakers?

• The UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
• The World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
• The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Answer: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

The IPCC does not make policy; it periodically assesses the state of climate science in Assessment Reports that underpin negotiations such as those under the UNFCCC.

In global climate governance, the 'free-rider problem' best describes a situation in which:

• States enjoy others' emissions cuts while avoiding costly cuts themselves
• States pay for the transport emissions embedded in the goods they import
• Developing states receive climate finance without any reporting conditions
• NGOs attend climate summits without holding formal voting rights

Answer: States enjoy others' emissions cuts while avoiding costly cuts themselves

Because a stable climate is a global public good, every state enjoys the benefits of mitigation whether or not it contributes, creating an incentive to let others bear the costs.

Which feature distinguished the 1997 Kyoto Protocol from later climate agreements?

• It relied entirely on voluntary pledges from all member states
• It set binding emissions targets for developed (Annex I) states only
• It created a global carbon tax administered by the United Nations
• It required identical percentage cuts from every state in the world

Answer: It set binding emissions targets for developed (Annex I) states only

Kyoto adopted a top-down approach: binding reduction targets applied to Annex I developed countries, while developing states had no such targets — a key contrast with the pledge-based Paris model.

In UN climate negotiations, AOSIS is best described as:

• A UN agency that funds coastal defence projects
• A coalition of major oil-exporting states actively resisting all emissions cuts
• An NGO network monitoring global deforestation
• A coalition of small island states pushing for ambitious climate targets

Answer: A coalition of small island states pushing for ambitious climate targets

The Alliance of Small Island States groups low-lying and island countries whose survival is threatened by sea-level rise; it championed the 1.5°C goal despite its members' limited material power.

Which of the following statements reflects an ecocentric, rather than an anthropocentric, view of the environment?

• Ecosystems have intrinsic value and deserve protection regardless of their usefulness to humans
• Nature should be protected mainly because it supplies resources for economic growth
• Environmental policy should prioritise human health outcomes above all else
• Conservation matters because future generations of people will need natural resources

Answer: Ecosystems have intrinsic value and deserve protection regardless of their usefulness to humans

Ecocentrism values nature for its own sake; the other three statements justify protection by reference to human interests, which is the anthropocentric position.

The 'loss and damage' fund agreed at COP27 in 2022 was created primarily to:

• Subsidise renewable energy research in developed states
• Compensate fossil fuel companies for stranded assets
• Fund vulnerable states for climate harms that can no longer be avoided
• Reward states that meet their national emissions pledges well ahead of schedule

Answer: Fund vulnerable states for climate harms that can no longer be avoided

Loss and damage goes beyond mitigation and adaptation: it addresses unavoidable harms such as destroyed territory and livelihoods, a long-standing demand of climate-vulnerable developing states.