Environment and Ecology Mixed Practice — MCQs with Answers (Set 19)

A pangolin is covered in scales made of keratin. When it rolls up, the scales stay on the outside. Camouflage is not how the ball protects it.

The behavior of rolling into a defensive ball, seen in hedgehogs and pangolins, is called volvation.

The hedgehog curls up behind its spines. The pangolin curls up behind its scales. The Himalayan marmot gives alarm calls instead. So the answer is hedgehog and pangolin.

The EPA’s 2023 report updated the US value to $190 per tonne, using newer science and economics. A 2025 order later withdrew these estimates.

The EPA calls the figure “the theoretically appropriate value” for benefit-cost analyses of policies that affect emissions. The Nobel background paper links the Social Cost of Carbon to the best carbon tax.

The 2021 US values for 2020 run from $14 at a 5% rate to $76 at 2.5%. A 0.1% rate gives a cost 8.2 times higher than 1.5% in the same model.

The EPA lists farm output, human health, flood damage to property and energy systems. It adds disasters, conflict, migration and ecosystems. So no single-item option fits.

The EPA defines it as the money value of net harm from emitting one tonne of a gas in a given year. The official key gives this option for the 2020 question.

The Climate Group’s own pages say its company was incorporated in November 2003 and gained charitable status in March 2004. The same About page also says it was “Founded in 2004”. The key for this question is 2003, the incorporation year. The other options, 1992, 2015 and 2021, do not match any date the Climate Group gives for its start.

The Under2 Coalition is a network of state and regional governments. The Climate Group calls it the largest global network of states and regions committed to net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest. It was formed in May 2015 by California and Baden-Württemberg. Courts, private citizens and oil companies are not its members.

The Climate Group acts as the secretariat of the Under2 Coalition, the office that supports and runs its work. The Climate Group also says it has worked with states and regions since 2005. The International Energy Agency, the UN Secretariat and the World Trade Organization are not named as its secretariat.

EP100 brings together a growing group of energy-smart companies committed to improving their energy efficiency. Members chose to double their energy productivity, roll out energy management systems, or reach net zero carbon buildings. Its member lists include Indian companies such as Dalmia Cement, Mahindra & Mahindra, UltraTech Cement and Godrej & Boyce, among others. So it is not limited to car makers. Governments belong to the Under2 Coalition, not to EP100.

The Climate Group’s archived 2018 and 2019 EP100 pages said it delivered EP100 in partnership with the Alliance to Save Energy. On the archived January 2022 EP100 page, the International Energy Agency appears only as the source of an estimate. That estimate is that over 40% of the emissions cuts needed for climate goals can come from energy efficiency. It is not the launch partner. The IPCC, UNEP and the World Bank are not named as EP100’s partner. EP100 is now called the Smart Energy Coalition.

The Climate Action Tracker has given independent analysis to policymakers since 2009. That is six years before the Paris Agreement existed.

The Tracker measures government action against the Paris Agreement aim. That aim is to hold warming well below 2°C and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.

The Tracker says its countries account for around 85 percent of global emissions. They also hold about 70 percent of world population. Older versions said about 80 percent.

Climate Analytics and NewClimate Institute are the two independent research institutes that run it. Ecofys (2009 to 2019) and the Potsdam Institute (2009 to 2016) were earlier partners.

The Climate Action Tracker is an independent database run by a coalition of research organizations. They are Climate Analytics and NewClimate Institute. It is not a UN, IPCC or World Bank body.

Appendix 1 of the paper says only Life Cycle Stage II, the use stage, is included. Stages I and III cover materials, construction and end of life. The paper says data for those stages are lacking for many regions and hard to quantify, and can lead to double counting. It describes the metric as modular, allowing future expansion.

The paper’s foreword says the building sector lacked a common approach to measuring its baseline greenhouse gas emissions. UN News says the metric is meant to allow consistent assessment and comparison of building emissions. The paper says the metric supports policy at international, regional, national and local levels.

The paper lists the energy uses in the operational phase as mainly heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting and appliances. So heating, cooling and lighting are covered. UN News says the metric is designed for energy use when a building is operational. It puts that phase at 80 to 90 per cent of a building’s total energy consumption.

The Common Carbon Metric came from the UNEP Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative, known as UNEP-SBCI. UN News says it was developed by UNEP’s Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative. The GHG Protocol pilot-tester page says the protocol and tool were drafted by UNEP-SBCI and WRI. The paper describes SBCI as a partnership between the UN and building-sector stakeholders.

UPSC’s official key for CSP 2021, General Studies Paper I, Series A, gives option (a) for Question 29. The UNEP-SBCI paper is titled as a metric for energy use and emissions from building operations. UN News says it was designed to measure energy use when a building is operational. The other options describe farm carbon trading, national footprints and fossil fuel use, none of which the paper covers.

The correct answer is 2 to 4 times more, as the safest choice. IUCN says mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrass meadows store more carbon per unit area than land forests. NOAA says they take it up at a much faster rate. The sources reviewed here do not give an exact multiple. The about-the-same and half-as-much options are wrong because they say the opposite of IUCN. The 10 to 20 times option is wrong because no reviewed source supports such a large gap. Memory hook: more than a forest, not wildly more.

The correct answer is in the waterlogged soils below the plants. NOAA says most of the carbon is stored below ground, and coastal soil carbon is often thousands of years old. In the mangrove study, soil held 49% to 98% of the carbon. The coral skeleton option is wrong because coral is not a blue carbon habitat. The dissolved open-water option is wrong because blue carbon is held in coastal habitats. The floating surface vegetation option is wrong because the store is in the soil. Memory hook: look down, not up.