Wildfires in Europe contribute to highest emissions in 15 years

Fires raged across Europe following double-dip heatwaves in July and August, with the likes of France, Portugal, and Spain seeing massive blazes that authorities struggled to get under control.

Wildfires throughout Europe during the summer led to the highest emissions for 15 years.

The EU's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (Cams) found August's heatwave combined with prolonged dry conditions across the western part of mainland Europe "resulted in increased wildfire activity, intensity and persistence".

Data from satellite observations of wildfire locations and fire radiative power — which measures intensity to estimate emissions of the air pollutants that are present in the smoke — show the total wildfire emissions from the EU and Britain from the beginning of June to the end of August are estimated to be 6.4 megatonnes of carbon, the highest level for these months since the summer of 2007, Cams said.

Fires raged across Europe following double-dip heatwaves in July and August, with the likes of France, Portugal, and Spain seeing massive blazes that authorities struggled to get under control.

In mid-August, a fire in the Gironde region and neighbouring Landes in France led to the evacuation of at least 10,000 people, with more than 360 firefighters and 100 specialised land vehicles sent from countries across the EU to bolster 1,000 French firefighters already on site. 

Analysing the data, Cams said the emissions recorded for summer 2022 were largely driven by the devastating wildfires across southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula, with France and Spain experiencing their highest wildfire emissions in the last 20 years.

Senior scientist and wildfire expert from Cams Mark Parrington, said: “The scale and persistence of the fires in the southwest of Europe leading to the highest emissions for Europe in 15 years was extremely concerning throughout the summer. 

"The majority of the fires occurred in places where the changing climate has increased flammability of the vegetation, such as in southwestern Europe, and as we have seen in other regions in other years.

"Cams is now closely monitoring the current fire emissions and smoke transport in the Amazon region, and across South America, as the peak fire season approaches in the coming weeks.”

The body said the fire season has been developing in the Amazon region through August into September. 

Above average daily fire emissions from the Legal Amazon in Brazil — the name given to the nine autonomous regions in the river's basin — in the second half of August, resulted in one of the highest total estimated emissions for the period since 2010, along with 2019-2021, Cams said. 

The first few days of September have seen clear increases in fires across the Amazon region, with daily values well above average, in several Amazon states, resulting in a large area of smoke over South America, it warned.