Carbon Emissions from Biomass Burning Quantified

Research team employs satellite data to assess global impact

Clearing haze problem, mitigating climate impact requires substantial reductions

A Chinese research team has employed the country's Fengyun-3D satellites' global fire spot monitoring data to quantify global carbon emissions. The research, published in the journal Earth System Science Data, said carbon emissions from such fires averaged 259 billion metric tons a year between 2020 and 2022.

According to the paper, the annual average carbon dioxide emissions caused by open biomass burning between 2020 and 2022 was estimated at 1.56 billion tons, with the tropics accounting for 61 percent of the total.

The research team said their results suggest that clearing the haze problem in China's megacities and mitigating climate impact requires substantial reductions in regional biomass burning.