Discuss global warming and mention its effects on the global climate. Explain the control measures to bring down the level of greenhouse gases which cause global warming, in the light of the Kyoto Protocol, 1997.
Approach · directive: “discuss / explain”
What it asks · Explain global warming and its climatic effects, then explain how the Kyoto Protocol (1997) sought to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The question has 3 parts — answer each
- Discuss global warming: what it is and what causes it
- Mention its effects on the global climate
- Explain the control measures to bring down greenhouse gases, in the light of the Kyoto Protocol, 1997
Open with · Global warming is the rise in average surface temperature caused mainly by greenhouse gases from human activity since the Industrial Revolution.
Cover
- Causes: burning fossil fuels, deforestation, agriculture and industry raise carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases.
- Effects on climate: higher temperatures, melting glaciers and rising seas, more intense heat waves, cyclones, floods and droughts, shifting monsoons and ocean acidification.
- Kyoto Protocol basics: adopted in 1997 under the UNFCCC and in force from 2005, it set legally binding limits on industrialised (Annex I) countries, an average of 5% below 1990 levels over 2008-2012.
- Principle and tools: common but differentiated responsibilities, with flexible mechanisms, namely emissions trading, Joint Implementation and the Clean Development Mechanism, from which India gained.
- Second period: the Doha Amendment (2012) set a further commitment for 2013-2020 with fewer participants.
- Assessment: the United States never ratified, Canada withdrew and large developing emitters had no binding limits, which led to the Paris Agreement's nationally determined contributions (2015).
- Other controls: renewables, energy efficiency, forests and sinks, methane control, carbon pricing and carbon capture.
Close with · Kyoto pioneered binding targets and carbon markets; the task now is universal, stronger and verifiable action under the Paris framework.
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2022, GS Paper III — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 264 words (UPSC limit 250) · Minimalist IAS
Global warming is the rise in the Earth's average surface temperature, caused mainly by greenhouse gases that human activity has added since the Industrial Revolution.
Global warming and its causes
- Greenhouse effect: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases trap outgoing heat; more of them means a warmer surface.
- Sources: burning fossil fuels for power, transport and industry, deforestation, agriculture and livestock, and industrial processes.
Effects on the global climate
- Heat: higher average temperatures and more intense and frequent heat waves.
- Water: melting glaciers and ice sheets, rising seas and more intense cyclones, floods and droughts.
- Systems: shifting monsoon patterns, ocean warming and acidification, and stress on ecosystems, food and water supplies.
Control measures and the Kyoto Protocol
- Kyoto basics: adopted in 1997 under the UNFCCC and in force from 2005, it set legally binding targets for industrialised (Annex I) countries, an average cut of 5% below 1990 levels over 2008-2012.
- Principle: common but differentiated responsibilities, so developing countries, including India, had no binding limits.
- Flexible mechanisms: emissions trading, Joint Implementation and the Clean Development Mechanism, through which Indian projects earned carbon credits.
- Second period: the Doha Amendment (2012) set a further commitment for 2013-2020 with fewer participants.
- Limits: the United States never ratified, Canada withdrew and large developing emitters had no binding limits, which led to the Paris Agreement's nationally determined contributions (2015).
- Measures beyond Kyoto: renewables and energy efficiency, protecting forests and other sinks, methane control, carbon pricing and carbon capture.
Kyoto pioneered binding targets and carbon markets; the task now is universal, stronger and verifiable action under the Paris framework.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify). UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.