Canadian wildfires have devastated 7.8 million hectares of land
Canadian wildfires last year were the most destructive ever recorded. The rains were more than 6,100 and devastated 7.8 million hectares of land. An area about as large as the Czech Republic or Austria. This is more than twice the previous record of 1989. But the fires in Canada have also generated enormous amounts of greenhouse gases: 3 billion tonnes of CO2 (GtCO2).
Canadian fires, more emissions than the entire EU in 2023
To put this volume of emissions in perspective, this is a greater amount than that produced by the entire European Union, which last year stopped at 2.5 GtCO2 (about 3.5 Gt if you consider all greenhouse gases, not just carbon dioxide). Or again: Canadian fires have polluted four times more than the entire global aviation sector. Or as many as 650 million cars in one year, more than twice the number of cars in circulation in Europe today.
New estimates from the World Resource Institute (WRI). This emphasizes that although the rains have been “exceptionally severe”, they are part of “a growing trend that sees forest fires becoming more frequent and severe”. Most of these 3 GtCO2, however, “will not be officially in the United Nations global inventory, despite their substantial contribution to climate change” due to Canada’s emission calculation methods.
The trend is global and not limited to Canada. This is shown by the latest data released by Copernicus on Arctic wildfires. The volume of greenhouse gas emissions generated by the rocks in the northernmost regions of the planet, only in June, is already at the 3rd place among the worst years of the last 2 decades, behind only the disastrous biennium 2019-2020.
“The Arctic is the zero point for climate change and the rising fires in Siberia are a clear warning signal that this essential system is approaching dangerous climate non-return points,” Copernicus emphasizes.