Climate Policy & International Agreements Flashcards
7 cards from real CCP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Climate Policy & International Agreements flashcards as text
Which US domestic policy framework, enacted in 2022, represents the largest climate investment in US history?
Answer: The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 allocates approximately $369 billion for climate and clean energy provisions, representing the largest US federal climate investment ever enacted.
What is the purpose of the 'pledge and review' architecture of the Paris Agreement versus the Kyoto Protocol's 'cap and trade' approach?
Answer: Pledge and review relies on countries setting their own targets with transparency and peer pressure rather than top-down binding caps
Unlike Kyoto's top-down binding caps, the Paris Agreement uses a bottom-up pledge-and-review system where countries set their own NDCs, with transparency mechanisms providing accountability through peer pressure.
Under the UNFCCC, which category includes countries with special financial and technical transfer obligations to developing nations?
Answer: Annex II countries
Annex II countries (a subset of Annex I, primarily OECD members) bear specific obligations to provide financial resources and technology transfer to developing countries under the UNFCCC.
The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol targets which substance for phase-down due to its high global warming potential?
Answer: Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
The 2016 Kigali Amendment requires countries to phase down HFCs — which replaced CFCs/HCFCs — as they have global warming potentials hundreds to thousands of times that of CO2.
What is the primary legal distinction between the Paris Agreement's temperature goal and its NDC commitment process?
Answer: The temperature goal is aspirational, while the obligation to submit and maintain NDCs is legally binding
Under the Paris Agreement, the obligation to submit and update NDCs is legally binding, but the specific emission targets within each NDC are not internationally legally binding.
Which concept describes the total amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted globally while still having a reasonable chance of meeting the 1.5°C target?
Answer: Remaining carbon budget
The remaining carbon budget quantifies how many more GHGs can be emitted before the probability of exceeding a given temperature threshold becomes unacceptably high, as calculated by the IPCC.
Under the Paris Agreement's transparency framework, what is a Biennial Transparency Report (BTR)?
Answer: A standardized report all Parties must submit every two years covering GHG inventories and NDC progress
BTRs replaced the previous bifurcated system of Biennial Reports (BRs) and Biennial Update Reports (BURs), requiring all countries to submit standardized climate reports every two years under the ETF.