The environment performs certain vital functions, like sustaining life. It would be able to function properly as long as the demand for these functions is within its carrying capacity. The rising population in developing nations and the affluent consumption standards of the developed nations has placed a huge stress on the environment. Resources are becoming extinct and waste is being generated beyond the absorptive capacity. As a result, we are on the threshold of an environmental crisis. Due to the overuse of renewable resources, we are compelled to spend on research and technology to explore new alternatives. Added to this are the health costs of the degraded environment, which are higher than the benefits received. Thus, the expenditure on health is also rising. Global environmental issues like global warming and ozone depletion also add up to the financial commitments of the government. These problems are not new, but the problems have escalated due to increased industrialisation and urbanisation. The need of the hour is to take effective steps at both the individual level and at the level of the governments around the globe to combat climate change and to prevent the planet. A UN conference on climate change held in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 resulted in an international agreement to fight global warming which called for reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases by industrialised nations.