Prelims 2026 · Environment · Question 21
Consider the following statements with reference to India's response to climate change :
I. India's Long-Term Low Emission Development Strategy (LT-LEDS) is a crucial tool for achieving net-zero emissions by 2070.
II. India's 4th Biennial Update Report (BUR-4) submitted in December, 2024 recorded around 8% decrease in Greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 over 2019.
III. Climate-resilient development necessarily depends on quick and short-term achievement of emission reduction targets.
Which of the following relationships among the above statements is/are correct ?
- Statement I is empirically supported by statement II.
- Statement III contradicts the approach implicit in statement I.
- Statement I and statement III together establish the premise of long-term sustainability.
Select the answer using the code given below :
Answer
1 and 2
Statement I is supported by India’s LT-LEDS itself, which presents the strategy/action plan for meeting the 2070 net-zero pledge and treats the shift to a low-carbon system as a long-term transition. Statement II is factually correct: BUR-4 was submitted on 30 December 2024 and reports a 7.93% reduction in 2020 GHG emissions over 2019. Statement III does not fit that approach; India’s LT-LEDS and the IPCC frame climate-resilient development as integrated across sectors and timeframes, not as something that necessarily depends on quick short-term target achievement. So relation 2 is clearly correct and relation 3 is not. Relation 1 is the weak leg, but on a broad exam-reading II can be treated as empirical evidence of movement along the low-emission pathway in I; hence B is the closest available choice.