PPrelimo← Home

Environment · Greenhouse Effect & Greenhouse Gases

UPSC Prelims 2025, Question 38

The concept being tested: India's CO2 emissions — sectoral sources and regional profile.

Consider the following statements: I. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in India are less than 0.5 t CO2/capita. II. In terms of CO2 emissions from fuel combustion, India ranks second in Asia-Pacific region. III. Electricity and heat producers are the largest sources of CO2 emissions in India. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Options

  1. AI and III only
  2. BII only
  3. CII and III onlyCorrect answer
  4. DI, II and III

The answer: II and III only

India's per capita CO2 emissions from fuel combustion are around 1.9 tonnes, far above the 0.5 t CO2/capita claimed in the first statement, even though this remains well below the global average of roughly 4.7 t CO2/capita, so that statement fails. For total CO2 emissions from fuel combustion, India sits third worldwide behind China and the United States; since the United States falls outside the Asia-Pacific region, India's regional rank rises to second, behind only China, which confirms the second statement. Within India's energy sector, electricity and heat producers, overwhelmingly coal-fired capacity, form the single largest emitting category, consistently contributing close to half of energy-related CO2 emissions, confirming the third statement. Together this leaves only the second and third statements correct.

What UPSC was testing

The trap is the specific numeric threshold in the first statement — candidates who only recall that India's per capita emissions are low relative to developed nations may accept the 0.5 t figure without checking the actual number, which is nearly four times higher, and the phrase 'ranks second in Asia-Pacific' only makes sense once the United States is recognised as outside that regional grouping.

How often this comes up

This concept has appeared 18 times in UPSC Prelims General Studies Paper I between 2015 and 2025 — in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025.

The option-by-option autopsy for this question — why each of the other three is wrong, and which neighbouring concept each one was built from — is in the app.

More questions on this

Other past-year questions touching Greenhouse Effect & Greenhouse Gases.

UPSC 2025 · Q9

Consider the following statements: Statement I: Circular economy reduces the emissions of greenhouse gases. Statement…