Amazon was a net carbon source from 2010 to 2024, with fires the dominant source

A paper published in Nature says fires were the dominant source of Amazon carbon emissions, while the forest’s own carbon exchange was close to neutral. The researchers link emissions to deforestation, degradation and largely human-caused fires, with drought amplifying the impact of those fires. In their 15-year record, emissions peaked in 2024 at 0.81 billion tonnes of carbon.