03/29/2024

Camp Fire’s climate toll: Greenhouse gases equal about a week of California auto emissions

Butte County’s Camp Fire not only claimed a staggering amount of lives and property, it spewed out a whole lot of greenhouse gases – about as much as all of California’s cars and trucks produce in a week, according to new state estimates.

This blast of emissions contributes negligibly to the planet’s overall warming, but taken together with other wildfires, big blazes like the Camp Fire are posing an increasing threat to the climate, scientists say.

Last year, the cumulative amount of greenhouse gases released by California fires was equal to about 9 percent of the total generated by human activity statewide. And the problem doesn’t end there. These fires are burning down forests that, when healthy, absorb heat-trapping gas and help stabilize the Earth’s temperature. That absorption is being lost.

. . . Severin Borenstein, an energy economist at UC Berkeley, said the amount of greenhouse gases released into the air by big blazes like the Camp Fire are not insignificant but hard to get too worked up about, considering the tragedy on the ground.

The Camp Fire, which ignited Nov. 8, killed at least 88 people and destroyed 14,500 homes and businesses, according to Cal Fire.

“The emissions are a big number,” Borenstein said. “But compared to the loss of buildings and the loss of lives, it’s pretty small.”

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