The challenge between balancing industrialisation and tackling the climate crisis has been a treacherous one and increases in dimensions as the global population increases along with the need to ensure livelihoods. In the process of industrialisation, the burning of fossil fuels which is available at cheaper costs, depletion of forest reserves, and the need for farming livestock for consumption as well as livelihood generation influence the climate and the earth’s temperature. The processes associated with industrialisation add enormous amounts of greenhouse gases, increasing the greenhouse effect and global warming in turn. One of the most potent greenhouse gases causing global warming is carbon dioxide (CO2). CO2 has increased particularly owing to the Industrial Revolution and an increase in manufacturing activities around the world. Deforestation, agriculture, and fossil fuel usage are the primary sources of CO2. The top five countries that produced in aggregate, the most CO2 since the Industrial Revolution are the United States (US), China, Russia, Germany, and the United Kingdom. As India has now become the most populated country in the world, with a population of roughly 1.4 billion, with rapid rates of industrialisation, the choice between efforts to provide for livelihoods and reduce global warming will be difficult.
