RAS question
Under the Google-ReNew Energy agreement, Google will procure the project's energy attributes to address which type of emissions?
Correct answer: (C) Scope 3 (value chain) emissions.
Under the Google-ReNew Energy agreement, Google will procure the project's environmental attribute certificates and allocate them to its Scope 3 value-chain emissions.
Explanation
The agreement is about value-chain emissions, not Google’s direct fuel use or purchased electricity for its own operations. Google’s India blog says it is partnering with ReNew Energy to enable a new 150 MW solar project in Rajasthan. Under the long-term agreement, Google will receive the project’s environmental attribute certificates and allocate them to its Scope 3 emissions. This structure addresses value-chain emissions, especially where emissions cannot be traced to a specific supplier. That is why the answer is Scope 3: the energy attributes are being used for Google’s wider supply-chain footprint rather than for Scope 1 or Scope 2 accounting.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from an organisation’s own operations, while the Google-ReNew agreement concerns Google’s value-chain emissions.
- (B) Scope 2 concerns purchased electricity for the company’s own operations, but Google says these environmental attribute certificates will be allocated to Scope 3 emissions.
- (D) Zero emissions is a target or outcome phrase, not the emissions category identified in the Google-ReNew agreement.
Concept
This tests the environmental accounting distinction between Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions. RAS often asks such climate-governance terms through current examples from Rajasthan and India’s clean-energy sector.