But in fact, what is the link between industrialization and CO2 emissions? “This is due to the proliferation of transport, to the fact that people consume more, travel more, have more cars, heat themselves more… improving their socio-economic situation, in fact“, replies Cathy Clerbaux.
“It is also due to the extraction of fossil carbon”, adds Celia Sapart. This former ULB scientist is scientific director of CO2 Value Europe. Fossil carbon is the CO2 contained in the earth in the form of coal, oil or natural gas. In short, everything we use to heat ourselves, produce the objects and food we use, eat every day.
The problem is that we are going to look for a lot of carbon that comes from the depths of the earth and that we bring it to the surface
“There is CO2 in the smoke from factories but also in the use and production of fertilizers in agriculture… all the basic chemicals use fossil carbon. The problem is that we are going to seek a lot of this carbon which comes from the depths of the Earth and that we bring it up to the surface. Thus, we have completely deregulated the carbon cycle in the atmosphere, which is not fundamentally problematic. But who becomes so by warming the atmosphere.”
Thus, whether we look at Europe, India, China or the United States, the observation remains the same with regard to this mapping: they are the biggest emitters of CO2, the biggest polluters compared to countries located in the southern hemisphere.
