Where forest fires have caused an alarming increase in carbon emissions

illuminem summarizes for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on The Washington Post or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: A new study in Science reveals a 60% global increase in carbon emissions from forest fires since 2001, with boreal forests in North America and Eurasia experiencing a near tripling of emissions
• This surge is linked to more frequent and intense fires driven by hotter and drier conditions

🔭 The context: Boreal forests, which store significant carbon in peatlands and soils, are increasingly susceptible to fires that release large amounts of carbon dioxide
• Previously, tropical forests were the main contributors to wildfire emissions, but the northern forests have now taken the lead due to rapid warming

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Rising emissions from forest fires threaten global climate goals by releasing stored carbon and reducing the planet's ability to capture future CO2, worsening climate change impacts

⏭️ What's next: Efforts to reduce fossil fuel emissions are crucial to limiting fire risks, while improved fire management techniques could help mitigate the effects of increasingly severe fire seasons

💬 One quote: “Any burning of those fuels is kind of irreversible because we won’t expect to see them forming until thousands of years from now” — Matthew Jones, lead author of the study

📈 One stat: Boreal forest fires emitted an additional half a billion tons of CO2 annually from 2001 to 2023

Click for more news covering the latest on carbon