With reference to the Agreement at the UNFCCC Meeting in Paris in 2015, which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. The Agreement was signed by all the member countries of the UN and it will go into effect in 2017. 2. The Agreement aims to limit the greenhouse gas emissions so that the rise in average global temperature by the end of this century does not exceed 2 °C or even 1.5 °C above the pre-industrial levels. 3. Development countries acknowledged their historical responsibility in global warming and committed to donate $ 1000 billion a year from 2020 to help developing countries to cope with climate change. Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

Only statement 2 is correct, so B is right. Article 2 of the Paris Agreement aims to hold the rise in global average temperature well below 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees C.

Statement 1 is wrong on two counts. The Agreement was adopted in December 2015 and opened for signature in April 2016. It entered into force on 4 November 2016, once the threshold of 55 countries accounting for at least 55 percent of global emissions was met. It was not signed by all UN members in 2015, and it did not take effect in 2017.

Statement 3 is wrong. The commitment was for developed countries to mobilise 100 billion US dollars a year by 2020, not 1000 billion. This goes back to the Copenhagen 2009 pledge, which Paris reaffirmed. The text says developed, not development.

Concept: the bottom-up architecture of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and the differentiated responsibility principle. This links directly to Mains questions on climate justice and India's NDC commitments.

Trap: aspirants pick A because they carry over the 100 billion figure as a Paris pledge and accept the 2017 date from memory.