EU’s record wildfire emissions highlight threat to forest carbon sinks

As carbon emissions from forest fires spike in Europe, experts warn that wildfires pose a growing risk to national efforts to meet climate goals

Climate-heating emissions from wildfires in the European Union have surged to record levels this year as flames have engulfed over 1 million hectares of land – equal to 13 times the size of New York City – since January. 

Blazes sweeping through the continent  – with major hotspots in Spain and Portugal – have so far released 38.37 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into the atmosphere, more than the annual CO2 emissions of Sweden, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

That’s more than double the average historical CO2 emissions recorded during the same months over the last 20 years. 

The Iberian countries have suffered their worst fire season on record, with blazes killing at least seven people, displacing thousands more and destroying homes and crops in August, as the peninsula sweltered through heatwaves. 

Mark Parrington, a senior scientist at the EU’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), told Climate Home that the fires ravaging Spain and Portugal this month have caused “extreme emissions”. 

In Spain alone, fire-related emissions this year are now four times higher than the average annual total, Parrington added. 

‘Feedback loop’ between climate change and fires

Forests act as important carbon sinks, but when they burn, they release back into the atmosphere the carbon stored in the trunks, branches and leaves of their trees as well as in the soil. 

“In fighting climate change, every effort counts – and of course, increasing emissions from forest fires is not good news,” said Paolo Laj, head of the Global Atmosphere Watch team at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). 

Scientists have warned of the emergence of a ‘feedback loop’ between climate change and fires. Rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produce hotter and drier conditions that make it easier for fires to develop and spread. Worsening fires release vast quantities of stored carbon into the atmosphere, further accelerating global warming. 

Globally, forest fires account for a relatively small share of emissions when compared with the use of fossil fuels and other human activities. 

But their impact has been growing rapidly in recent years. In both 2023 and 2024, fires surged across the world – from tropical rainforests in South America to boreal forests in Canada and Russia – releasing more greenhouse gases than the annual emissions of India, according to analysis from the World Resources Institute (WRI).

WMO’s Laj said the share of global CO2 emissions caused by fires will likely continue to increase with the growing frequency and intensity of fires. 

Risk for national emissions targets

Surging blazes also risk threatening forests’ role in helping countries to meet their climate targets.

Many countries are relying on land carbon sequestration – including through forests – to hit their 2030 and 2035 emissions-reduction goals, instead of taking more action elsewhere, for example by cutting the use of planet-heating fossil fuels. 

The Australian government, for example, has faced criticism for repeatedly revising upwards projections of how much carbon its land sector could remove from the atmosphere while expanding its oil and gas production. 

Similarly, COP30 host nation Brazil has been accused of obfuscating the role of forest sinks through opaque accounting used in its latest nationally determined contribution (NDC).

Cover photo:  A firefighter tries to put out the fire, on August 21, 2025, in Anllarinos del Sil, León, Castilla y León (Spain). Photo: Xuan Cueto/Europa Press/ABACAPRESS.COM