What is 'Greenhouse Gas Protocol'?

Answer: (a) It is an international accounting tool for government and business leaders to understand, quantify and manage greenhouse gas emissions.

The GHG Protocol (WRI + WBCSD) is the most widely used standard for measuring and managing greenhouse gas emissions (Scopes 1, 2, 3).

The idea

You cannot cut what you have not measured. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is the common rulebook that companies, cities and governments use to count their emissions. It sorts every emission into one of three scopes.

Scope 1: from what you own and burn (boilers, vehicles) → Scope 2: from the electricity, steam, heating or cooling you buy → Scope 3: from your suppliers and from customers using your product

Why the others are wrong

(b) Financial incentives for developing countries describe REDD+ or climate funds.

(c) No climate agreement fixed 2022 as a target year. The Kyoto Protocol’s periods ended in 2012 and 2020.

(d) The World Bank does host a REDD+ fund, the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. REDD+ pays countries to keep forests standing; it is not a counting method.

The trap

“Protocol” sounds like a treaty (Kyoto, Montreal). This one is an accounting standard.

Elimination technique

Option (c) says “ratified by all the member countries”. Absolute words such as all, only and cannot usually mark the wrong statement in Environment PYQs.

Also know

It was developed by the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. It covers the gases named under the Kyoto Protocol: CO₂, methane, nitrous oxide, HFCs, PFCs, SF₆ and NF₃. Scope 3 is usually the largest share and the hardest to count.