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Climate change denotes long-term shifts in temperature and weather patterns driven, since the Industrial Revolution, by anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The principal gases are carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O) and fluorinated gases, each weighted by Global Warming Potential (GWP) over 100 years — CH₄ is ~28–34 times and N₂O ~265–298 times CO₂. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), established in 1988 by the WMO and UNEP, is the authoritative scientific body; its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6, 2021–23) concluded that human influence has unequivocally warmed the planet by about 1.1°C above 1850–1900 levels.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and entered into force in 1994, enshrining the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC) in Article 3. It split parties into Annex I (developed) and non-Annex I (developing, including India) groups.
The Kyoto Protocol (1997, in force 2005) imposed binding emission-reduction targets only on Annex I countries for the first commitment period (2008–2012), and created three flexible mechanisms: the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Joint Implementation, and Emissions Trading. The United States never ratified Kyoto; the Doha Amendment (2012) set a second period to 2020.
The Paris Agreement, adopted at COP21 on 12 December 2015 and in force 4 November 2016, marked a paradigm shift to universal, bottom-up commitments. Its Article 2 sets the goal of holding warming "well below 2°C" while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. Article 4 obliges every party to submit Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), ratcheted upward every five years through a Global Stocktake (Article 14), the first of which concluded at COP28 (Dubai, 2023) with a call to "transition away from fossil fuels."
Developed countries pledged at Copenhagen (COP15, 2009) to mobilise USD 100 billion per year by 2020 — a target met belatedly only in 2022 per the OECD. COP27 (Sharm el-Sheikh, 2022) established a Loss and Damage Fund, operationalised at COP28. COP29 (Baku, 2024) agreed a New Collective Quantified Goal of USD 300 billion annually by 2035, which India and the G77 criticised as inadequate. The Kigali Amendment (2016) to the Montreal Protocol — ratified by India in 2021 — phases down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), potent GWP gases, illustrating how ozone and climate regimes intersect.
India submitted its first NDC in 2015 and an updated NDC in August 2022. The headline targets are: (1) reduce the emissions intensity of GDP by 45% by 2030 from 2005 levels (raised from the earlier 33–35%); (2) achieve about 50% cumulative installed electric power capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030 (raised from 40%); and (3) create an additional carbon sink of 2.5–3 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030. At the COP26 Glasgow summit (2021), Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the "Panchamrit" five-fold pledge, including 500 GW non-fossil capacity by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2070.
India's domestic framework is the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), launched in 2008, comprising eight national missions: (1) National Solar Mission (now scaled toward higher solar targets); (2) National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency — which spawned the PAT (Perform, Achieve and Trade) scheme; (3) National Mission on Sustainable Habitat; (4) National Water Mission; (5) National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem; (6) National Mission for a Green India; (7) National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture; and (8) National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change. States prepare State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCC) aligned to the NAPCC.
The Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2022 created the legal basis for an Indian Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), notified in 2023, moving India toward a compliance carbon market administered through the Bureau of Energy Efficiency. The International Solar Alliance (ISA), co-launched by India and France at COP21 in 2015 and treaty-based since 2017 with headquarters at Gurugram, mobilises solar-rich nations. At COP26, India and the UK launched the Green Grids Initiative – One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG). The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) was launched by India at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit.
Domestic flagship programmes include the National Green Hydrogen Mission (2023) with an outlay of ₹19,744 crore targeting 5 MMT annual production by 2030, the PM-KUSUM solar-pump scheme, the FAME electric-mobility scheme, and Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), launched in 2022 to promote sustainable consumption. India also leads the Global Biofuel Alliance, launched at the 2023 G20 New Delhi Summit, and has advanced ethanol blending toward its 20% (E20) target.
India's negotiating posture consistently invokes CBDR-RC, equity, climate finance, and historical responsibility, while resisting binding absolute-emission caps in favour of intensity targets.
Climate change is among the highest-yield areas of the UPSC syllabus, straddling Prelims GS Paper I and Mains GS Paper III ("Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation") with frequent overlap into GS-II (international institutions, India and groupings) and the Essay paper.
Prelims questions are factual and discriminating. The UPSC has repeatedly asked about: the institutional parentage of bodies (e.g., 2016 — which organisations established the IPCC; answer: WMO and UNEP); the difference between the Montreal and Kyoto Protocols; what the Kigali Amendment regulates (HFCs); the launch venue and membership of the International Solar Alliance; and the constituent missions of the NAPCC. A favourite trap is conflating the Kyoto Protocol (binding, Annex-I only, top-down) with the Paris Agreement (universal, NDC-based, bottom-up). Retain hard numbers: 45% emissions-intensity cut by 2030, 50% non-fossil capacity, 500 GW, net-zero by 2070, the USD 100 billion finance goal and the USD 300 billion NCQG from COP29. Match each COP to its signature outcome — Copenhagen (finance), Paris (Agreement), Glasgow (Panchamrit, coal "phase-down"), Sharm el-Sheikh (Loss and Damage Fund), Dubai (first Global Stocktake), Baku (NCQG).
Mains demands analytical, balanced argument. PYQ patterns include: "Should the pursuit of carbon credits and clean development mechanisms be maintained even though there has been a massive slowdown in the world economy?" (2014) and questions on India's INDCs and renewable-energy transition. Examiners reward candidates who (a) cite the precise treaty article or scheme by name and year, (b) deploy the equity/CBDR-RC argument with historical-emissions data, (c) link India's domestic missions to its international pledges, and (d) offer a forward-looking, solutions-oriented conclusion rather than mere description.
Memorise: UNFCCC (1992) → Kyoto (1997) → Paris (2015) chronology; CBDR-RC (UNFCCC Article 3); Paris Article 2 (well below 2°C / 1.5°C) and Article 4 (NDCs); the eight NAPCC missions; the three updated NDC targets; net-zero 2070; ISA, CDRI, OSOWOG, Global Biofuel Alliance, Mission LiFE, and the National Green Hydrogen Mission. Linking current COP outcomes to these anchors converts rote facts into score-winning answers.