Consider the following statements about Kyoto Protocol which was held in Japan in December 1997?
(A) Involved pledges and commitments from different countries to mitigate climate change caused by greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting substances (ODS).
(B) Required all countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5% below 1990 levels by 2008–2012.
(C) High-fluorinated hydrocarbons (HFCs) are transitional replacements for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
(D) Definite road maps were prepared separately for developing and developed nations to reduce emissions of CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances (ODS).
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → (A), (B) and (C) only
Note: The given answer is as per the official NTA Answer Key. However, statements (A), (B) and (C) are not fully accurate as printed; only (D) belongs plainly to another treaty, so Option (1), the one option without (D), is the most appropriate answer, as explained below. A page of the Montreal Protocol has slipped into NTA’s Kyoto file.
The Kyoto Protocol, adopted at Kyoto in December 1997 under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, is the treaty on greenhouse gas emissions. It must not be mixed up with the Montreal Protocol of 1987, the treaty that phases out ozone-depleting substances.
(A) Involved pledges and commitments from different countries to mitigate climate change caused by greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting substances (ODS). Correct as per NTA; however, only the first half holds: the Protocol obtained commitments from different countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but ozone-depleting substances are controlled by the Montreal Protocol, not by Kyoto.
(B) Required all countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5% below 1990 levels by 2008–2012. Correct as per NTA; however, the cut of about 5% below the 1990 level in the first commitment period, 2008 to 2012, was binding only on the industrialised (Annex I) countries, not on all countries.
(C) High-fluorinated hydrocarbons (HFCs) are transitional replacements for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Correct as per NTA; however, HFCs are hydrofluorocarbons, the long-term substitutes for CFCs; the transitional substitutes were the HCFCs. HFCs do not harm the ozone layer but are strong greenhouse gases, which is why the Kyoto Protocol covers them.
(D) Definite road maps were prepared separately for developing and developed nations to reduce emissions of CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances (ODS). Incorrect. Separate road maps for developed and developing countries to cut CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances belong to the Montreal Protocol (1987) and its later amendments, not to the Kyoto Protocol.