Rise in extreme wildfires linked directly to emissions from oil companies in new study
As fires blaze in Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C., new research has drawn a direct and measurable link between carbon emissions traced back to the world's major fossil fuel producers and the increase in extreme wildfires across western Canada and the United States.
The peer-reviewed study, published last week in the journal Environmental Research Letters, found that 37 per cent of the total burned forest area in Western Canada and the United States between 1986-2021 can be traced back to 88 major fossil fuel producers and cement manufacturers.
"What we found is that the emissions from these companies have dramatically increased wildfire activity," said Carly Phillips, co-author on the study and a researcher at the Science Hub for Climate Litigation at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
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Using modelling data, researchers were able to determine that emissions traced back to those 88 companies resulted in an additional 80,000 kilometres squared being burned. That's an area larger than the size of Ireland.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/wildfires-climate-change-carbon-88-1.6852178