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Amazon wildfires leave rainforest emitting 1.17 billion tons more CO₂ than it absorbs
Between 2010 and 2024, the Amazon rainforest, the largest tropical rainforest on the planet, released on average 1.17 billion metric tons more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year than it absorbed, according to a report published by Phys.org.
Fires outweigh the forest's uptake
Wildfires were the main source of these emissions, releasing approximately 1.47 billion metric tons of CO₂ per year. That figure is far larger than the roughly 300 million metric tons per year the forest is able to absorb, which is why the net balance over the period tipped into a sizeable surplus of carbon sent back into the air.