Climate change & agreements

Answer: (b) Rice

Paddy is grown in standing water, and bacteria decomposing organic matter in that oxygen-free soil release methane; the heavy nitrogen fertiliser used on rice, poorly taken up by the plant, adds nitrous oxide. No other field crop contributes so much of both gases.

• ✓ (b) Flooded paddy fields are one of the largest human-made sources of methane (about a tenth of global methane emissions), and fertiliser applied to rice releases nitrous oxide as well.
• ✗ (d) Wheat is grown on drained, aerated soil, so it produces little methane; its fertiliser gives some nitrous oxide but not both gases on rice's scale.
• ✗ (c) Sugarcane is a heavy user of water and fertiliser, but it is not grown under continuous flooding, so it is not a major methane source.

Remember · Flooded rice = anaerobic soil = methane; nitrogen fertiliser = nitrous oxide. Alternate wetting and drying, SRI and direct-seeded rice cut paddy methane.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

SRI transplants young seedlings singly at wide spacing and keeps the field moist rather than flooded. Fewer seedlings means far less seed; drying the soil between irrigations curbs methane-producing bacteria; and less irrigation means less pumping, so less electricity. All three follow.

• ✓ 1. Because one young seedling is planted per hill at wide spacing, SRI needs only a small fraction of the seed used in conventional transplanted rice.
• ✓ 2. Methane forms in oxygen-free, waterlogged soil. Alternate wetting and drying lets air into the soil, so methane emission falls; ICAR lists SRI among its methane-mitigation technologies for rice.
• ✓ 3. SRI uses roughly a fifth to a third less water than flooded paddy. Where fields are irrigated by electric pumps, less water pumped means lower electricity use.

Remember · SRI: young single seedlings, wide square spacing, moist (not flooded) soil, weeding that aerates the soil — less seed, less water, less methane, similar or higher yield.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Database created by coalition of research organisations

The Climate Action Tracker is an independent research project run jointly by two research organisations, Climate Analytics and NewClimate Institute. It has assessed countries' climate pledges and actions since 2009 and belongs to no UN or treaty body.

• ✓ (a) It is a collaboration of two research organisations, Climate Analytics and NewClimate Institute, that compares each government's targets and policies with the Paris Agreement goal. UNEP's Emissions Gap Report itself uses it as one of the independent assessments.
• ✗ (b) The IPCC (properly the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) assesses climate science for governments. The Tracker is a separate, independent project and not a wing of it.
• ✗ (c) It is not a committee of the UNFCCC, the climate treaty secretariat; it is an outside analysis that tracks what governments do.
• ✗ (d) It is not an agency promoted and financed by UNEP and the World Bank; UNEP only cites it, alongside other independent studies.

Remember · Climate Action Tracker: independent tracker of national climate pledges, run by Climate Analytics and NewClimate Institute since 2009. Not an IPCC, UNFCCC or UNEP body.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 1, 3 and 4 only

Statements 1, 3 and 4 are correct. The Climate Group, not the International Energy Agency, launched EP100 and is the secretariat of the Under2 Coalition, so statements 2 and 5 fail.

• ✓ 1. The Climate Group is an international non-profit that describes its method as building and running networks of businesses and governments, such as EP100 and the Under2 Coalition.
• ✗ 2. EP100 was launched by The Climate Group in 2016 as an action of the We Mean Business coalition. The International Energy Agency did not launch it.
• ✓ 3. EP100 is a campaign inviting influential companies to pledge to double their energy productivity, that is, to get more economic output from each unit of energy used, which cuts emissions and raises competitiveness.
• ✓ 4. Mahindra & Mahindra, the tractor maker, joined EP100 in April 2016 and pledged to double its energy productivity by 2030.
• ✗ 5. The Climate Group has acted as secretariat of the Under2 Coalition, the network of state and regional governments, since 2015. The IEA holds no such role.

Remember · The Climate Group runs EP100 (energy productivity, business) and is secretariat of the Under2 Coalition (sub-national governments). Mahindra & Mahindra is an Indian member.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Conveying a false impression that a company’s products are eco-friendly and environmentally sound

Greenwashing means misleading people into believing that a company or other entity is doing more for the environment than it really is. Option (a) says exactly this, in terms of a company's products.

• ✓ (a) It is a deceptive claim of environmental friendliness, for example labelling a product 'green' or 'eco-friendly' without real proof. The UN treats it as an obstacle to climate action because it promotes false solutions.
• ✗ (b) Leaving environmental costs out of a country's accounts is a gap in national accounting (green accounting), not greenwashing.
• ✗ (c) Ignoring ecological damage during infrastructure building is environmental negligence, not a false green claim.
• ✗ (d) Making provision for environmental costs in a project is a genuine safeguard, the opposite of misleading claims.

Remember · Greenwashing: a false or exaggerated claim that a company, product or policy is environmentally friendly; it misleads consumers and delays real climate action.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error