Which of the following statements about the 'Race to Zero Campaign' is/are correct? 1. One of the main objectives of the Race to Zero Campaign is to build momentum around the shift to a decarbonized economy. 2. It is related to the theory of Zero-Sum Game. Select the correct answer using the code given below:
- (a)1 only
- (b)2 only
- (c)Both 1 and 2
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2
Correct — A, 1 only. Race to Zero is the UN-backed global campaign that rallies non-State actors — companies, cities, regions, financial, educational and healthcare institutions — behind a single pledge: cut emissions to net zero as soon as possible and by 2050 at the latest, with an interim target in line with a fair share of the 50 per cent global cut in carbon dioxide needed by 2030. Its own criteria document says it 'mobilises actors across the global economy' to decarbonise, 'giving national governments the confidence to go further, faster'. Building momentum behind a shift to a decarbonised economy is a fair description of exactly that, so statement 1 stands. Statement 2 is a free-standing invention. A zero-sum game is a term from game theory for a situation in which one player's gain is precisely another player's loss; the campaign's whole design is the opposite claim, that a shared cut leaves everyone better off. The two 'zero's have nothing to do with each other.
- (b)2 only — Keeps the invented link to game theory and throws away the campaign's actual stated purpose. Nothing in the Race to Zero criteria or in UNFCCC material mentions zero-sum reasoning.
- (c)Both 1 and 2 — The word-association trap. 'Race to Zero' and 'zero-sum game' share a word and nothing else — one is an emissions target, the other a property of a payoff matrix.
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Rejects a statement that matches the campaign's published description. Statement 1 is a plain restatement of what the campaign says it exists to do.
Race to Zero was launched in June 2020 by the UNFCCC's High-Level Climate Champions, ahead of COP26 at Glasgow, to gather net-zero commitments from actors who are not governments. Members pledge at head-of-organisation level to reach net zero greenhouse gases by 2050 at the latest, set a decade-out interim target, publish a transition plan within twelve months of joining, and report progress annually. It sits alongside Race to Resilience, the parallel adaptation campaign, under the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action.
This is a two-statement item where one statement is real and one is a decoy assembled from a similar-sounding phrase, and the exam uses that pattern often. The way through is to ask what each statement would have to be true of. Statement 1 could be checked against any published description of the campaign. Statement 2 would require an economics idea to be embedded in a climate campaign, which is the kind of claim that never has a source behind it. As of the September 2023 exam the campaign was running under the 'Starting Line and Leadership Practices 3.0' criteria, in force for new applicants from 15 June 2022 and for existing partners' members from 15 June 2023, and those criteria have continued to be revised since — the pledge itself, net zero by 2050 at the latest, has not moved.
- Race to Zero is led by the UN High-Level Climate Champions for Climate Action under a mandate from the parties to the UNFCCC.
- It is open to non-State actors — businesses, cities, regions, investors and financial institutions, universities and healthcare institutions — not to national governments.
- The starting-line pledge is net zero greenhouse gases as soon as possible and by 2050 at the latest, consistent with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
- Members must also set an interim target for the coming decade reflecting a fair share of the 50 per cent global cut in carbon dioxide by 2030, and publish a transition plan within twelve months of joining.
- A zero-sum game, by contrast, is a game-theory situation in which the players' gains and losses sum to zero — an idea with no place in the campaign's documents.
The question works only if a candidate reads 'zero' twice and assumes a link. There is none.
- Reading a campaign name as a technical term — 'Race to Zero' is not a game-theory concept.
- Assuming the campaign binds countries; it is a pledge platform for non-State actors.
- Confusing the 2050 net-zero pledge in the campaign with India's own 2070 target announced at Glasgow.
As a two-statement item where the true statement restates the initiative's purpose and the false one attaches an unrelated technical term.
With reference to the Agreement at the UNFCCC Meeting in Paris in 2015, which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. The Agreement was signed by all the member countries of the UN and it will go into effect in 2017. 2. The Agreement aims to limit the greenhouse gas emissions so that the rise in average global temperature by the end of this century does not exceed 2°C or even 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. 3. Developed countries acknowledged their historical responsibility in global warming and committed to donate $1000 billion a year from 2020 to help developing countries to cope with climate change. Select the correct answer using the code given below.
- (a) 1 and 3 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) 2 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer(b) 2 only
The treaty layer under the campaign. Race to Zero exists to deliver the temperature goal that this UPSC item tests, and both questions punish the same habit — accepting a plausible-sounding number or link that the actual text does not contain.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which of the following can become a member of the Race to Zero campaign?
- (a)Only national governments
- (b)Only the least developed countries
- (c)Businesses, cities, regions, investors and universities
- (d)Only members of the UN Security Council
Answer(c) Businesses, cities, regions, investors and universities — the campaign was designed for non-State actors, while national governments pledge through their Nationally Determined Contributions.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Race to Zero campaign asks its members to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by which year at the latest?
- (a)2030
- (b)2040
- (c)2050
- (d)2070
Answer(c) 2050 — the campaign's starting-line pledge is net zero as soon as possible and by 2050 at the latest, with an interim target for the current decade.