Raging Canadian Wildfires Account for 25% of Global Carbon Pollution

Worldwide, record-high temperatures have been shattered this year and the planet recently experienced its hottest days in the last 120,000 years.

In the first seven months of this year alone, the raging wildfires in Canada have pumped out twice Canada’s entire pollution amount last year, according to Europe’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). The center also found that the fires account for one-quarter of all carbon emissions on the planet this year.

According to CAMS, the wildfires in Canada have pumped some 90 megatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere since January 1.

"In recent years we have seen significant wildfires in the Northern Hemisphere, but this year’s fire activity in Canada is highly unusual,” CAMS Senior Scientist Mark Parrington said in a news release. “The weather has played a part, with warm and dry conditions increasing the flammability of vegetation and increasing the risk of large-scale fires. We support users in mitigating the impacts through monitoring the fire activity and intensity, and the emitted smoke."

The Canadian wildfires have put twice the amount of carbon into the atmosphere in the first seven months of 2023 as all of Canada did in 2022. GFASV1.2 daily total cumulative estimated carbon emissions for Canada since 1 January (red line shows 2023 up to 1 August, thick black line shows 2003-2022 mean, and grey dashed lines show the other years in the dataset).

© CAMS/ECMWF

According to Canadian government statistics, the wildfires have consumed more than 32 million acres of land this year - an area the size of Portugal. Fire authorities are currently tracking 1,036 active fires burning across Canada, 663 of which are classified as “out of control.” Firefighters have traveled from around the globe to aid their Canadian counterparts, but many experts say it may be impossible to tame the flames without cooperation from Mother Nature.

The smoke has traveled thousands of miles, obscuring skies in the United States and degrading air quality, forcing people indoors. Even Europe has not been spared, as high-altitude winds blow the smoke across the Atlantic, causing flight delays. The fires have mostly occurred in isolated areas, but have still forced tens of thousands of Canadians from their homes.

Other wildfires have raged around the globe in 2023 as well, including in Italy, Greece, and Russia, where hot and dry weather has fanned them. Record-shattering heat waves have gripped Europe and the United States for weeks, helping to bring the waters in the Gulf of Mexico up to jacuzzi-like temperatures, which meteorologists have warned could easily become fertile fuel for hurricanes passing overhead.

Such massive wildfires, including at such northerly altitudes, are one consequence climate scientists have warned could come from global warming. Since carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the primary driver of the planet's "greenhouse effect," the massive blazes create a deadly feedback loop, worsening the phenomenon that is their cause.