SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 14 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 20 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

According to the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) findings, how does corruption most directly undermine global climate action?

(a)By weakening financial markets in developing countries
(b)By discouraging public participation in environmental protests
(c)By diverting climate funds and allowing undue influence over environmental policies
(d)By increasing competition among fossil fuel companies

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Transparency International's 2024 CPI, released on 11 February 2025, names two channels through which corruption hurts climate action.

Money: funds meant to help countries cut greenhouse gas emissions and protect vulnerable populations are stolen or misused.

Policy: corruption in the form of undue influence obstructs policies aimed at the climate crisis. Option (c) states both.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
By weakening financial markets in developing countries — Financial markets are not the mechanism. The CPI measures perceived public-sector corruption, and its climate findings point to misused climate funds and blocked policy.
(b)
By discouraging public participation in environmental protests — The headline mechanism is money and policy, not protests. The CPI's climate findings centre on climate funds stolen or misused and on undue influence over policy.
(d)
By increasing competition among fossil fuel companies — It is influence, not competition. Transparency International's CPI 2024 analysis says the fossil fuel industry exerts undue influence on climate negotiations. It says nothing about more competition between fossil fuel firms.

Concept

The Corruption Perceptions Index ranks 180 countries and territories by perceived public-sector corruption on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). Transparency International publishes it.

The 2024 edition kept the global average at 43, with more than two-thirds of countries below 50. Denmark topped it at 90, followed by Finland (88) and Singapore (84).

The 2024 edition's theme was corruption as a threat to climate action.

Key facts

The CPI 2024 was released on 11 February 2025 and covers 180 countries and territories.
CPI scores run from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
In the CPI 2024, Denmark scored highest (90), followed by Finland (88) and Singapore (84), and South Sudan scored lowest (8).
The CPI 2024 global average stayed at 43.

Study next

India's score and rank in the latest CPIClimate finance goals agreed at COP29 in BakuTransparency International and how the CPI is compiled

Common traps

Reading a higher CPI score as more corruption — the scale runs the other way, and 100 means very clean.
Choosing a plausible economic effect over what the report says: climate funds at risk and undue influence over policy.

The CPI scale itself is asked at 15 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.20, which wants what a score near 0 means.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Geography — all 135 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.