Wildfires across the globe are worsening due to the climate crisis, according to a newly released report compiled by scientists from more than 60 institutes in 20 countries.
The State of Wildfires Report for 2024-2025 found that some of the largest and most catastrophic wildfires over the past year were two to three times more likely to burn due to climate change. The worldwide increases in burned area and fire severity were driven not just by warmer-than-average temperatures, but also by abnormal increases in downpours followed by drought conditions, which boosted dry fuel loads.
“Drought and heatwaves set the stage for four of the most prominent extreme wildfire events of the 2024-25 fire season, including southern California (January 2025), Northeast Amazonia (early in 2024), the Brazilian Pantanal and Bolivian Chiquitano (August-September 2024), and the Congo Basin (July 2024),” the researcher’s report said. “A number of exacerbating factors were present in southern California, including unusually high fuel build-up during previous wet years and unseasonal heat and drought conditions in winter, which coincided with the timing of Santa Ana winds.”
Wildfires that burned between 2024 and 2025 also emitted over 8 billion tonnes of CO₂. The total is a 10% increase in average wildfire emissions since 2003 and exceeds the annual CO₂ emissions of more than 200 countries. South American forests and wetlands had over triple the global emission average, while Canada’s boreal forests emitted double the global average.
The researchers emphasized that greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels will continue to worsen heatwaves and droughts and increase the risk of more frequent and intense fires worldwide, but also said it’s not too late to change the world’s course. They pointed to the upcoming United Nations annual climate summit, COP30, as a venue where developed nations could commit to rapidly reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.
“We need stronger and faster climate action to cut fossil fuel emissions, protect nature and reduce land clearing,” report researcher Dr Hamish Clarke from the University of Melbourne said in an article in The Conversation. “And we can get better at responding to the risk of fires, from nuanced forest management to preparing households and short and long-term disaster recovery.”
