Climate change has been identified as the major culprit behind the wildfires we are witnessing in the Arcti The number and frequency of extreme forest and tundra wildfires, notably in Alaska and Siberia, are increasing as the Arctic warms, leading to evacuations, loss of economic activity, and negative health effects.

Wildfires are a negative feedback loop for climate change because they release greenhouse gases. They threaten ecologically valuable habitats for species like caribou and salmon. Declines in these species, in turn, threaten food security, infrastructure, health and cultural identities for people living in the Arctic.

In the summer of 2022, more than 12,000 square kilometers across Alaska were destroyed by wildfires—that’s roughly triple the annual average. The year before, more than 165,000 square kilometres of Siberian forest was destroyed, an area roughly twice the size of Austria. And in 2018, fires burned 810 square kilometers of critical reindeer pasture in Sweden.

These fires are being fueled by extreme weather events like droughts, heatwaves, and lightning strikes—all of which are a direct result of climate change.  But “zombie fires” are also on the rise in parts of Alaska and Canada. These are fires that come back to life and reignite in the spring when the weather warms up, after sitting dormant for eight or nine months in wet, sub-zero weather. By 2050, it is estimated that wildfires in the Arctic and around the world could increase by one third.

Because wildfires combust organic soil and biomass, they also release huge quantities of carbon. In 2021, Arctic wildfires accounted for a third of the worldwide wildfire CO2 emissions. In addition to releasing CO2, wildfires emit methane and black carbon as well as smoke and soot that affects air quality and pollution levels, which negatively affects the health of local communities.