2022 CSAT — Q2
Passage
The main threat to maintaining progress in human development comes from the increasingly evident unsustainability of production and consumption patterns. Current production models rely heavily on fossil fuels. We now know that this is unsustainable because the resources are finite. The close link between economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions needs to be severed for human development to become truly sustainable. Some developed countries have begun to alleviate the worst effects by expanding recycling and investing in public transport and infrastructure. But most developing countries are hampered by the high costs and low availability of clean energy sources. Developed countries need to support developing countries’ transition to sustainable human development.
Consider the following statements :
Developed countries can support developing countries’ transition to sustainable human development by
-
making clean energy sources available at low cost
-
providing loans for improving their public transport at nominal interest rates
-
encouraging them to change their production and consumption patterns
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Thinking pathway
Locate. On a “can support… by” detail item, the bar is consistency with the passage’s stated levers, not verbatim restatement. The passage’s levers: developing countries are “hampered by the high costs and low availability of clean energy sources”; the worst effects are alleviated “by expanding recycling and investing in public transport and infrastructure”; “the close link between economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions needs to be severed”; and “developed countries need to support developing countries’ transition.”
Test (scope-fit + not-contradicted). Item 1 (cheap clean energy) maps onto the named barrier (high cost, low availability of clean energy) — a direct fit. Item 3 (encourage changed production/ consumption) is the passage’s central prescription (sever the growth–emissions link). Item 2 (loans for public transport at nominal rates) sits on the passage’s named measure (investing in public transport) and the broad call to “support”; the financing detail is a permitted means, and nothing in the passage contradicts it.
Eliminate by anatomy. No option can drop a non-contradicted, in-scope support and stay correct. (a)/(b)/(c) each strike one or two of the three legitimate levers. Because all three are within the passage’s frame of developed-country support and none is contradicted, the answer is the inclusive (d).
Evidence in the text
Item 1 — “most developing countries are hampered by the high costs and low availability of clean energy sources”: cheap clean energy directly removes the stated barrier → supported. Item 3 — “The close link between economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions needs to be severed… Developed countries need to support developing countries’ transition”: encouraging changed production/ consumption patterns is the passage’s own remedy → supported. Item 2 — the passage names “investing in public transport and infrastructure” as an alleviating measure and calls broadly for developed countries to “support” the transition; helping fund public transport is a permitted form of that support and is nowhere contradicted → all three valid → (d).
Worked rationale
The passage frames developed-country support around clean energy (the named barrier), public transport and infrastructure (a named alleviating investment), and changing the growth/emissions pattern (the central need).
- Item 1 — cheap clean energy removes the explicit “high costs and low availability” barrier. Valid support.
- Item 2 — financing public transport improvement is a means of the “investing in public transport” lever and the general call to “support.” Not contradicted. Valid support.
- Item 3 — encouraging changed production/consumption patterns is the passage’s core remedy. Valid support.
All three are consistent supports. Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3.
Why the other options miss
- A half right, half wrong: keeps the clean-energy support but drops the pattern-change remedy (item 3), which is the passage’s central prescription.
- B half right, half wrong: drops item 3, the most directly stated form of support.
- C half right, half wrong: drops item 1, which maps exactly onto the passage’s named clean-energy barrier.
Specialist insight
On a “can support by” detail item, the test is not “is each item quoted?” but “is each item a lever the passage endorses, and is any item contradicted?” Items 1 and 3 are textbook fits; item 2 is the softer one (the financing detail isn’t spelled out), but it rides the passage’s named public-transport investment and the open call to support, and nothing refutes it. With no item contradicted and all three in scope, the inclusive option is forced. Note the contrast with a valid-assumptions question, where item 2’s added “nominal interest rate” detail would be scrutinised harder; here the permissive “can support by” framing accepts it. (d).
All three are passage-endorsed, non-contradicted forms of developed-country support — clean energy, public transport, and pattern change — so the inclusive (d) is correct.