Study: CO2 emissions from forest fires up by 60% since 2001

22 / 10 / 2024

By Marwa Nassar - -

A major new study reveals that carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from forest fires have surged by 60% globally since 2001, and almost tripled in some of the most climate-sensitive northern boreal forests.

The study, led by the University of East Anglia (UEA), grouped areas of the world into “pyromes” – regions where forest fire patterns are affected by similar environmental, human, and climatic controls – revealing the key factors driving recent increases in forest fire activity.

It is one of the first studies to look globally at the differences between forest and non-forest fires, and shows that in one of the largest pyromes, which spans boreal forests in Eurasia and North America, emissions from fires nearly tripled between 2001 and 2023.

Significant increases were seen more broadly across the extratropical forests and amounted to an additional half a billion tons of CO₂ per year, with the epicenter of emissions shifting away from tropical forests and towards the extratropics.

Increased emissions were linked to a rise in fire-favorable weather, such as the hot-dry conditions seen during heatwaves and droughts, as well as increased rates of forest growth creating more vegetation fuels. Both trends are aided by rapid warming in the high northern latitudes, which is happening twice as fast as the global average.

The study reveals a worrying increase in not only the extent of forest wildfires over the last two decades, but also their severity. The carbon combustion rate, a measure of fire severity based on how much carbon is emitted per unit of area burned, increased by almost 50% across forests globally between 2001 and 2023.

The work involved an international team of scientists – from the UK, the Netherlands, US, Brazil and Spain – who warn that further expansion of forest fires can only be averted if the primary causes of climate change, such as fossil fuel emissions, are tackled.

Lead author Dr Matthew Jones, of the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research at UEA, said: “Increases in both the extent and severity of forest fires have led to a dramatic rise in the amount of carbon emitted by forest fires globally.”

“Startling shifts in the global geography of fires are also under way, and they are primarily explained by the growing impacts of climate change in the world’s boreal forests.|

“To protect critical forest ecosystems from the accelerating threat of wildfires, we must keep global warming at bay and this underscores why it is so vital to make rapid progress towards net zero emissions.”

Dr Thais Rosan, from the University of Exeter, added “The findings of this study demonstrate the significance of fire geography and illustrate that fire disturbance represent a critical and growing threat to the global efforts to combat climate change.

“The frequency and intensity of forest fires in the extratropics are increasing, representing a significant risk to areas that constitute a substantial proportion of the global net land carbon sink.”

“As fire intensity and severity rise, the capacity of these forests to continue storing carbon is increasingly threatened.”

“To achieve international climate targets, it is essential to address the impact of these wildfires, which risk undermining the potential of forests to act as long-term carbon sinks and mitigate the effects of climate change.”