As the COP30 climate talks continue in Belém, the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) is calling for urgent global action to confront one of the most damaging symptoms and causes of the climate emergency: wildfires. A new EJF report, Where there’s smoke: six wildfire stories, exposes how the accelerating climate crisis is driving unprecedented fire events across the globe.

Between March 2024 and February 2025 alone, wildfires burned more than 3.7 million square kilometres globally - an area larger than India - and emitted 9% more carbon than the 20-year average. Fires in vital carbon sinks such as forests and wetlands are releasing vast quantities of greenhouse gases, threatening biodiversity and livelihoods, and pushing global heating even further out of control.

The report features firsthand testimonies from communities and environmental defenders on the frontlines of these fires. In Brazil’s Pantanal, Indigenous firefighters describe battling infernos with little equipment, while in Indonesia, campaigners raise the alarm that industrial-scale land clearing continues to ignite peatland fires that spread across borders. In the UK and the Congo Basin, scientists warn that rising temperatures are transforming peatlands from essential carbon sinks into sources of emissions, while in Greece and California, residents recount lives upended by increasingly severe fire seasons.

“Wildfires are one of the most visible and destructive consequences of climate breakdown. Brazil has been particularly hard hit in recent years, notably by the devastating Pantanal fires of 2020. However, this is a global crisis, and it demands global attention here in Belém,” said Luciana Leite, EJF’s Chief Representative in Brazil. “As these six stories show, wildfires are destroying lives, uprooting communities, and threatening ecosystems at a terrifying pace.”

At COP30, EJF is calling on governments to:

• Cut greenhouse gas emissions drastically and scale up funding for climate adaptation, acknowledging global heating as the primary driver of escalating wildfire risk;

• Protect and restore carbon-rich ecosystems, such as peatlands and wetlands, through targeted financing for nature-based solutions;

• Empower Indigenous and local communities, integrating their knowledge and leadership into wildfire management and climate policy.

Steve Trent, CEO and Founder of EJF, said: “From the Amazon to the Arctic, from peat bogs to rainforests, wildfires show us that the climate emergency is here and now. But they also remind us of the solutions we have neglected so far: protect nature, support the people defending it, and rapidly end our reliance on carbon. Every fraction of a degree matters; without urgent, justice-centred climate action, this crisis will only deepen. COP30 must be a turning point.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

Read the report here.

About EJF

Our work to secure environmental justice aims to protect our global climate, ocean, forests, wetlands, wildlife and defend the fundamental human right to a secure natural environment, recognising that all other rights are contingent on this. EJF works internationally to inform policy and drive systemic, durable reforms to protect our environment and defend human rights. We investigate and expose abuses and support environmental defenders, Indigenous peoples, communities, and independent journalists on the frontlines of environmental injustice. Our campaigns aim to secure peaceful, equitable and sustainable futures. Our investigators, researchers, filmmakers, and campaigners work with grassroots partners and environmental defenders across the globe. For more information, please contact media@ejfoundation.org.