Read the given passage and answer the following questions based on it.…
2023
Read the given passage and answer the following questions based on it.
Emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases plunged 4.6 percent in 2020, as lockdowns in the first half of the year restricted global mobility and hampered economic activity. Many hoped that this would mark the beginning of a more permanent shift downwards in emissions. Emissions from the manufacturing and the energy sectors contributed the most to recent global increases based on updated information from the IMF’s Climate Change Indicators Dashboard—a joint effort among national and international statistical organizations to provide timely data to help monitor the transition to lower carbon use. As greenhouse gas emissions from human activities increase, they build up in the atmosphere and warm the climate, leading to many other changes around the world—in the atmosphere, on land, and in the oceans. While total emissions have climbed significantly above prepandemic levels, increases from transportation and households were more muted last year as the pandemic weighed on global mobility. This was particularly evident with the emergence of the omicron variant in the fourth quarter of last year. The public health policy measures in many countries drove down the emissions of households and of the electricity sector.
It will be important to monitor the emissions of both of these sectors as economies fully reopen in the context of historically high fossil fuel-based energy prices. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said that, in the scenarios they assessed, limiting atmospheric warming to the key level of around 1.5 degrees Celsius requires global greenhouse gas emissions to peak by 2025 at the latest, emphasizing that achieving this milestone is a crucial step towards controlling the severity of climate change. The new data from the climate dashboard underscore what some scientists have warned: time is running out, and we must urgently bend the emissions curve to achieve the necessary reductions to limit atmospheric warming.
What is the overarching message conveyed by the passage regarding greenhouse gas emissions and climate change?
- A.
The world is on track to achieve the necessary reductions in emissions.
- B.
The Climate Change Indicators Dashboard is the sole solution to climate change.
- C.
Greenhouse gas emissions have no significant impact on climate.
- D.
Economic growth is more important than addressing climate change.
- E.
Urgent action is needed to reduce emissions and limit atmospheric warming.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: E
Concept
The “overarching message” (main idea) of a passage is the single central claim the whole text builds toward — not a minor detail, not one example, and not the opposite of what the author argues. To find it, locate the writer’s thesis, usually stated or restated in the concluding lines, and confirm that every paragraph supports it.
Applying it here
The passage opens by noting that the 2020 dip in emissions was hoped to be permanent, then reports that total emissions have in fact climbed above pre-pandemic levels.
It cites the IPCC: limiting warming to about 1.5°C requires global emissions to peak by 2025 at the latest.
The closing sentence states the thesis directly: “time is running out, and we must urgently bend the emissions curve to achieve the necessary reductions to limit atmospheric warming.”
So the central message is a call for urgent action to cut emissions and limit warming.
Why the other readings miss the main idea
“The world is on track to achieve the necessary reductions” — the passage says the opposite: emissions rose above pre-pandemic levels and time is running out.
“The dashboard is the sole solution” — the dashboard is described only as a monitoring tool for data, never as a solution by itself.
“Emissions have no significant impact on climate” — the text explicitly says emissions build up and warm the climate, so this is contradicted.
“Economic growth is more important than addressing climate change” — the passage never ranks growth above climate action; it urges reductions instead.
Hence the overarching message is that urgent action is needed to reduce emissions and limit atmospheric warming.