WASHINGTON DC – In a first, US climate scientists have quantified the extent to which greenhouse gasses from the world’s top fossil fuel companies have contributed to wildfires.
First author Kristina Dahl, of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), told AFP wildfires in the western United States and southwestern Canada have been worsening for decades: they are burning more intensely, over longer seasons, covering larger areas and reaching higher elevations.
To date, the cost of rebuilding and increasing resilience has largely been footed by the general public, “so we wanted to better understand the role that fossil fuel industry emissions have had in altering the wildfire landscape,” she said.
“We really wanted to put a spotlight on their role in that, so that they can be held accountable for their fair share of the cost.”
Read more at Physics
