Canada's forest fires in 2023 were a major emitter of global CO2 - more than the burning of fossil fuel in most countries

Research reveals that the wildfires which devastated Canada’s boreal forests in 2023 released more carbon emissions than the burning of fossil fuels in almost every country, except for China, the United States, and India. 

The study shows that most individual countries (Canada included) did not produce as much CO2 (per country) as the wildfires in 2023 in Canada did as a whole, throughout the fire season of that year. 

Only the three largest countries, China, India and the US, did individually put out more CO2 than the Canadian wildfires in 2023.  

Researchers also say most countries do not include wildfire emissions in their annual CO2 reports as they are striving to look good in meeting international targets on paper. 

Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons License. 

Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data [2023], processed by Pierre Markuse. Massive fires in Québec, Canada (Lat: 53.06, Lng: -74.71) - 22 June 2023. Image is about 78 kilometers wide. 

This image was originally posted to Flickr by Pierre Markuse at https://flickr.com/photos/24998770@N07/53001135624. It was reviewed on 26 June 2023 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0.

Canada’s 2023 wildfires made international headlines, caused billions of dollars in property damage, prompted large scale evacuations and caused toxic air pollution that reached as far as Europe and China. A new analysis shows that the wildfires also had a large effect on greenhouse gas emissions world wide. 

The study, published at the end of August 2024 in the scientific journal Nature, calculated that, at 647 megatonnes, the carbon released in last year's wildfires exceeded those of seven of the ten largest national emitters in 2022.

The study  also suggests that the impact of these wildfires may force a reassessment of how much more greenhouse gas emissions the atmosphere can handle before surpassing global temperature targets set by the 2015 Paris Agreement. 

Wildfire emissions not included in official reports as countries strive to meet international targets

According to an article on the CBC, wildfire emissions are often not included in official reports when  countries strive to meet international targets.

"The carbon emitted by fires in Canada was far outside the previous record," said Brendan Byrne, an atmospheric scientist at NASA and the lead author of the paper.

Emissions from wildfires are not taken into account by countries as they strive to reach their Paris Agreement targets to keep temperatures from rising more than 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels, Byrne said. 

"If our goal is really to limit the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, we need to make adaptations into how much carbon we are allowed to emit through our economy, corresponding to how much carbon is being absorbed or not absorbed by forests," Byrne said. 

Four times as much as one year of global aviation - more than the entire fossil fuel burning of entire countries

According to the World Resource Institute, Canada's record-breaking wildfires in 2023 released nearly four times more carbon than global aviation emit in a year. 

CBS News write that Canadian wildfires released more carbon emissions than burning fossil fuels. 

According to the article, scientists at the World Resources Institute and the University of Maryland calculated how devastating the impacts were of the months-long fires in Canada in 2023 that sullied the air around large parts of the globe, turning some skies a vivid orange. 

The scientists calculated that the fires put 3.28 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air, according to a study update published in Global Change Biology. 

That is reportedly nearly four times the carbon emissions as airplanes do in a year, acdording to the study authors. It's also more or less the same amount of CO2 that 647 million cars emit per year, based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data.

Canadian wildfires released more than the ten top CO2 emitters

The study in the scientific journal Nature, calculated that, at 647 megatonnes, the carbon released in last year's wildfires exceeded those of seven of the ten largest national emitters in 2022.

Copernicus wrote on December 12, 2923 that during 2023 several significant wildfires, such as those experienced in Canada, Greece and other regions of the world had impacts on the atmosphere, air quality, and on the communities in their proximity. 

The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) has been tracking the emissions resulting from these wildfires and the resulting smoke pollution impacts on the atmosphere.