Smoke from a wildfire rises above homes in Bedford, Canada
REUTERS/Eric Martyn
Wildfires in Canada emitted record amounts of carbon in May, showing how the risk of fires is increasing before the summer fire season even begins.
Emissions for the month reached 54.8 million tonnes, more than double the carbon emitted by wildfires in May since estimates began in 2003, according to the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. In the boreal forests of western Canada, provincial records were set in British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan, which surpassed their previous highs of …