What is 'Greenhouse Gas Protocol'?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) It is an international accounting tool for government and business leaders to understand, quantify and manage greenhouse gas emissions
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is a set of accounting standards, guidance and tools, built by the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, that businesses and governments use to measure and manage their greenhouse gas emissions. It is not a treaty and not a UN or World Bank programme.
- ✓ (a) GHG Protocol provides standards, guidance, tools and training for business and government to measure and manage emissions; the World Bank itself follows its guidance for its own emissions accounting.
- ✗ (b) It is not a UN scheme of financial incentives; it comes from two non-governmental bodies, WRI and WBCSD. Incentive-based forest schemes belong to REDD+.
- ✗ (c) A treaty ratified by countries and setting emission limits would be like the Kyoto Protocol; the GHG Protocol has no ratification and no national targets, and no 2022 deadline exists.
- ✗ (d) It is a measurement standard, not one of the World Bank's REDD+ funds.
Remember · GHG Protocol = the world's most widely used greenhouse gas accounting standard, from WRI and WBCSD. It measures emissions; it is not a treaty and sets no targets.
Sources
- GHG Protocol (WRI and WBCSD): About Us ↗ · reference work “Greenhouse Gas Protocol provides standards, guidance, tools and training for business and government to measure and manage climate-warming emissions.”
- UNFCCC: International Financial Institutions Technical Working Group on Greenhouse Gas Accounting, Guideline AHG-003 (Internet Archive copy) ↗ “GHG appraisal of investment projects can be performed applying the requirements of, inter alia, the GHG Protocol, the Clean Development Mechanism methodologies, Verra (Verified Carbon Standard), Gold Standard, the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, ISO 14064 (Part 1 and 2), or other recognised standards”
- World Bank Group: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Management Plan ↗ “consistent with the principles and guidance of the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s (WBCSD) Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative (GHG Protocol) for its internal corporate GHG accounting and reporting”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·