Record-breaking fires swept the Amazon in 2024, releasing more carbon than ever before and eclipsing deforestation as the main source of emissions. Scientists say this hidden degradation threatens the rainforest’s ability to recover—and the planet’s climate stability.
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The Amazon’s worst fire season in decades is turning the rainforest into a massive carbon emitter.
A new analysis from scientists at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre shows that the Amazon rainforest has experienced its worst fire season in more than 20 years. The extreme fires drove unprecedented levels of carbon pollution and revealed how vulnerable the ecosystem has become, even as overall deforestation rates have slowed. During 2024, fires released an estimated 791 million tons of carbon dioxide, an amount comparable to Germany’s total annual emissions. That figure is about seven times higher than the average recorded over the previous two years.
According to findings published in Biogeosciences, fires damaged roughly 3.3 million hectares of Amazon forest in 2024 alone. Researchers link this dramatic increase to intense drought conditions worsened by climate change, growing forest fragmentation, and poor land management practices (e.g., escape fires or criminal fires by land grabbers). Together, these factors have accelerated forest degradation. For the first time in records covering 2022–2024, damage caused by fire surpassed deforestation as the leading source of carbon emissions in the Amazon.
Satellites Reveal Hidden Fire Damage
The study relied on advanced satellite techniques designed to overcome gaps in earlier global fire datasets. Scientists combined observations from the Tropical Moist Forest monitoring system with data from the Global Wildfire Information System. By carefully removing false signals from agricultural burning and cloud interference, the team was able to identify and confirm fire-related forest damage with far greater accuracy than before.
The study relied on advanced satellite techniques designed to overcome gaps in earlier global fire datasets. Scientists combined observations from the Tropical Moist Forest monitoring system with data from the Global Wildfire Information System. By carefully removing false signals from agricultural burning and cloud interference, the team was able to identify and confirm fire-related forest damage with far greater accuracy than before.
Pan-Amazon map showing newly detected large-scale forest degradation in 2024, primarily driven by fires, along with country-level trends in deforestation, forest degradation, and forest fires from 2022 to 2024.
Credit: Bourgoin et al., 2025
Brazil and Bolivia Among the Hardest Hit
The scale of the fires varied across the region but remained deeply concerning. In Brazil, emissions linked to forest degradation reached their highest level ever recorded in 2024. In neighboring Bolivia, fires damaged more than 9% of the country’s remaining intact forest. This represents a major loss for an area long recognized as an important stronghold for biodiversity and carbon storage.
How Scientists Measured the Carbon Impact
To strengthen reliability and openness, the researchers applied a Monte Carlo simulation approach to calculate carbon emissions and quantify uncertainty. Across variables such as above-ground biomass density, combustion completeness, and the percentage of forest cover affected by fire. The resulting estimates follow Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) best practices and provide a solid reference point for monitoring the climate impact of tropical forest fires.
A Growing Threat Beyond Deforestation
While deforestation has long been seen as the Amazon’s main danger, the study draws attention to a quieter but equally damaging process: fire-driven degradation. These fires weaken forests without fully clearing them. From above, affected areas can appear largely intact, yet they have lost significant biomass and ecological function. Because the trees remain standing, this kind of damage is often overlooked in national reporting and international climate policies.
To strengthen reliability and openness, the researchers applied a Monte Carlo simulation approach to calculate carbon emissions and quantify uncertainty. Across variables such as above-ground biomass density, combustion completeness, and the percentage of forest cover affected by fire. The resulting estimates follow Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) best practices and provide a solid reference point for monitoring the climate impact of tropical forest fires.
A Growing Threat Beyond Deforestation
While deforestation has long been seen as the Amazon’s main danger, the study draws attention to a quieter but equally damaging process: fire-driven degradation. These fires weaken forests without fully clearing them. From above, affected areas can appear largely intact, yet they have lost significant biomass and ecological function. Because the trees remain standing, this kind of damage is often overlooked in national reporting and international climate policies.
Calls for Urgent Action
The researchers urge swift, coordinated steps to reduce the use of fire, improve forest protection, and reinforce the role of local and Indigenous communities in land stewardship. They also stress the importance of expanding international climate finance to account for forest degradation, not only deforestation, as a key driver of carbon emissions and ecosystem decline.
The researchers urge swift, coordinated steps to reduce the use of fire, improve forest protection, and reinforce the role of local and Indigenous communities in land stewardship. They also stress the importance of expanding international climate finance to account for forest degradation, not only deforestation, as a key driver of carbon emissions and ecosystem decline.
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