Canada’s Wildfires Released More Carbon Emissions Than Nearly Every Country Last year

Last year’s record-breaking wildfires in Canada contributed more to global warming than any other country.

According to a study published Wednesday by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the fires that burned an area roughly the size of North Dakota generated approximately 640 million metric tonnes of CO2.

The study, published in Nature, found that only China, the US, and India created higher emissions from fossil fuels than the Canadian fires.In 2023, greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere reached historic highs.

“The 2023 fire season was the warmest and driest for Canadian forests since at least 1980, resulting in vast carbon emissions from forest fires,” according to the findings.

The fires broke out in May 2023 and raged for months across the provinces, fuelled by unprecedented temperatures and dry circumstances.

The wildfires burned over 45 million acres, stretching from British Columbia to Nova Scotia. Smoke spread from Canada to the US, creating an eerie yellow-orange hue over cities. Eight firefighters were killed, and tens of thousands were evacuated in Canada.

NASA used satellite images and supercomputers to assess the impact of the fires. The European Space Agency’s TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument, mounted to the Sentinel 5P satellite since 2017, has measured and mapped gases and fine particles in the atmosphere.

Wildfires are projected to become more frequent and severe as temperatures rise and droughts worsen as a result of the climate crisis.

The global threat to northern forests, including those in Canada, is serious. These forests serve as significant carbon sinks, absorbing more CO2 from the atmosphere than they emit.

However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that their efficiency as carbon sinks is waning.

This year’s wildfires in Canada have already produced smoke over the Midwest and East Coast. There are currently 730 active fires, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. This year, approximately 12 million acres have been destroyed, including Jasper, Alberta’s historic town.

Fire activity has increased in August, with warmer and drier conditions expected for the Labour Day weekend. Wildfires occur all year in Canada, but the most active months are May through September. The Canadian government forecasted a significant chance of wildfires in the upcoming months.