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Developed countries around the world

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Developed countries around the world

by TheGraduate » Sat Oct 08, 2016 11:32 pm
Developed countries around the world have pledged to reduce global carbon emissions to half their 1990 levels by 2050. Taking into account these countries' plans for emissions reduction, countries in the developing world would need to cut emissions by 23%. However, this goal will translate into a much greater per-capita requirement on people in the developing world. This is because their populations are still growing, increasing the energy and resources needed in coming years.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

(A) Industrial plants are one of the prime targets for emissions reductions, and most global industrial production takes place in developed nations.
(B) On a per-capita basis, emissions from countries in the developing world are less than one-tenth those from developed countries.
(C) A handful of developing nations committed to emissions reduction targets equal or greater than those of developed nations.
(D) In developing nations, emissions levels are more heavily dependent on the activities of a small ruling class.
(E) By 2050, many countries in the developing world are expected to have undergone drastic economic transformation such that they will resemble more closely developed nations than developing ones.

Please provide detailed explanation of the choices
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by MBA Challengers » Sun Oct 09, 2016 9:40 am
Hi TheGraduate,

Start with dividing the stimulus into premises and conclusion:

Premise 1: Developed countries around the world have pledged to reduce global carbon emissions to half their 1990 levels by 2050.
Premise 2: Countries in the developing world would need to cut emissions by 23%
Premise 3: Developing countries' populations are still growing, increasing the energy and resources needed in coming years

Conclusion: Greater per-capita requirement (to reduce carbon emissions) on people in the developing world

Moving on to the answer options:

(A) This option does nothing for the conclusion as it does not change any ratio or any of the numbers. If anything, it weakens the conclusion implying that most reductions will come from developed countries. INCORRECT.

(B) What this option suggests is that the per capita emissions in developing countries is anyway much lower than developed countries. This shows that given the trend towards development, it is expected that per capita requirement would grow as the developing countries go towards development. Now, premise 3 also mentions that population is bound to increase. What it does is that the 23% reduction in total emissions for the developing countries needs to come from an increasing population moving towards development putting a greater requirement of carbon emission reduction on a per capita basis.


(C) As mentioned in the explanation, we are talking about two categories of countries here and not any specifics. We are talking about all developed countries and all developing countries. INCORRECT.

(D) Per capita carbon emission is an average term. Per capita is an average number for any statistic. Consider per capita income - if a country has a per capita income of $100 that does not mean every person in that country earns $100. Maybe the top 20% earn even $800 while the bottom 20% might be languishing at $2. Similarly per capita carbon emission is an average number. Even if the ruling class has most of the activities of carbon emission it would still impact rest of the population too. Eg. the ruling class might be the one running transportation in the country and the reduction impacts their activity. But it finally affects the end user which is the mass of the population. So, this statement does not do anything to strengthen the fact of the impact of the reduction on per capita carbon emission. INCORRECT

(E) This option talks about economic transformation of the developing countries towards development. However, it does not mention any thing about how they will get there and the role that emissions would play. In fact the statement is too broad with nothing specific about two of the main aspects required in the conclusion - per capita carbon emission reduction and population growth. If economically the developing countries are moving towards a pattern similar to developed countries, it could be true for carbon emission as well (for the emissions to be at par with the developed countries) which would imply it is easy for them to reduce their carbon consumption by 2050. INCORRECT

Thus, the answer is B.
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