Consider the following statements with reference to India's response to climate change:

Question

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?

1. Statement I is empirically supported by statement II.

2. Statement III contradicts the approach implicit in statement I.

3. Statement I and statement III together establish the premise of long-term sustainability.

1. A. 1 only
2. B. 1 and 2 (Correct answer)
3. C. 2 and 3
4. D. 3 only

Correct Answer

Option B — B

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is Option B.

Key Points

• relationships 1 and 2 only.
• This is a statement-relationship question: you judge how statements I, II and III relate, not merely whether each is true.
• Relationship 1 is correct: Statement II supplies empirical data (BUR-4, submitted to the UNFCCC in December 2024, recorded roughly an 8% fall in greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 over 2019) that evidences measurable movement along the net-zero pathway set out in Statement I. Reported data supporting a strategy is a valid empirical-support relationship.
• Relationship 2 is correct: Statement III insists that climate-resilient development 'necessarily depends' on quick, short-term emission cuts.
• Statement I rests on a long-term, phased transition to net-zero by 2070.
• Making short-term achievement a necessary condition contradicts the long-horizon approach implicit in LT-LEDS.
• Relationship 3 is incorrect: I and III do not jointly establish long-term sustainability — they pull in opposite directions on timeframe.
• Statement III's short-termism is in tension with Statement I's decades-long strategy, so together they create a conflict rather than a shared premise.
• Background: India announced its net-zero-by-2070 goal at COP26 (Glasgow, 2021) as part of the Panchamrit commitments, and submitted its Long-Term Low Emission Development Strategy (LT-LEDS) at COP27 (Sharm El-Sheikh, 2022).
• Biennial Update Reports are how developing countries report emissions inventories to the UNFCCC.

Exam Tip

• in relationship questions, first mark each statement true/false, then test the logical link asserted.
• A relationship can fail even when both statements are individually true.