Changing Land Use

The increase in population led to an increase in the demand for agricultural and industrial land. Urbanisation also occurs since more people prefer living in cities. The change in land use causes an increase in greenhouse gas emission.

Increase in Agriculture

Agriculture is the practice of cultivating land, producing crops and raising livestock. Agriculture produces the third most amount of greenhouse gas. 

In the production of crops, tractors are used to plough the land. It uses fossil fuels which release carbon dioxide. Inorganic fertilisers are also used to fertilise the soil. This increase the amount of nitrous oxide in the soil. The nitrous oxide from the soil is released when the soil is ploughed or when rain flows through the soil. Organic matters in agriculture fields decay and release methane. In rice fields, decomposition is very fast since lots of water is used in the soil. This cause rice fields to produce large amount of methane
The farming of cattle also contribute to an increase in greenhouse gas emission. This is because cattle release methane as waste gas. Millions of tonnes of methane are released annually from cattle farming.

Increase in Industries 

Industries is the production of goods and service within a country. Secondary industries refer to industrial economic activities. Secondary industries involve the burning of fossil fuels for goods to be produced. This lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emission. Greenhouse gases may also be released as a waste gas when producing goods.
The countries emitting the largest amount of greenhouse gas from industrial processes are North America, Central America, Europe and Asia, due to the concentration of industries in these countries.
In the past, Europe, North America and Central America were emitting the most amount of carbon dioxide from industrial processes since these countries were heavily involved in manufacturing. Countries like China and India are experiencing industrailisation, causing more carbon dioxide to be emitted from those countries.

Urbanisation

Urbanisation is the process in which more and more people are living in urban areas like cities or towns. The demand for energy in these urban areas is high, causing there to be large amount of fossil fuels to be burnt to provide energy for various human activities such as heating, cooling, cooking, lighting etc. The large number of vehicles in urban areas also contribute to an increase in emission in greenhouse gases.  

Constructing infrastructure and producing construction materials also release large amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.