SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 24 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 13 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.

Which universities collaborate to produce the Environmental Performance Index (EPI)?

(a)Harvard & Stanford
(b)Yale & Columbia
(c)Oxford & Cambridge
(d)MIT & Caltech

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The Environmental Performance Index is produced by the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy together with Columbia University's CIESIN centre.

It is published every two years. The 2024 edition scored countries on climate change mitigation, ecosystem vitality and environmental health → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Harvard & Stanford — Harvard and Stanford are not the index's producers. The EPI comes out of Yale's environmental law and policy centre and Columbia's CIESIN.
(c)
Oxford & Cambridge — Oxford and Cambridge have no part in the EPI. Index questions reward the exact publisher, and here that is the Yale-Columbia pairing.
(d)
MIT & Caltech — MIT and Caltech are not named on the index. Its producers are Yale's Center for Environmental Law & Policy and Columbia's CIESIN.

Concept

The EPI turns environmental data into one score and rank for each country. The 2024 edition scored 180 countries on 58 indicators, grouped under climate change mitigation, ecosystem vitality and environmental health.

India ranked 176th of 180 in the 2024 edition.

Figures change by edition. The Yale site's 2026 EPI ranks 177 countries on 47 indicators, so quote any number with its year.

Key facts

The EPI is produced by the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy and Columbia University's CIESIN.
The EPI is published every two years.
The 2024 EPI ranked 180 countries on 58 indicators.
India ranked 176th of 180 countries in the 2024 EPI.

Study next

Index-publisher pairs: Heritage Foundation, Transparency International, World Bank LPIIndia's rank and weak indicators in the 2024 EPI

Common traps

Choosing a famous pair such as Harvard and Stanford on reputation. Index questions reward the exact publisher.
Quoting one edition's country count as permanent. The 2024 edition ranked 180 countries, the 2026 edition 177.

Index-and-publisher pairs are also asked at 24 Sep 2025, 09:00, GA Q.20 (Index of Economic Freedom, Heritage Foundation) and 24 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.20 (Corruption Perceptions Index, Transparency International).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Economic Scene — all 144 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.