Canada’s 2023 wildfires produced nearly a decade’s worth of blaze emissions

Fires made at least three times more likely by climate crisis and emitted about 2bn tonnes of CO2, data reveals

Canada's record-shattering" wildfires last year produced nearly as much greenhouse gas emissions in one season as would be expected over a decade of fires in normal circumstances, data has shown.

The fires, in Canada's wildest season ever", were made at least three times more likely by the climate crisis, and produced about 2bn tonnes of CO₂, about a quarter of the total global emissions from wildfires last year, according to data in the State of Wildfires report, published on Wednesday.