BRUSSELS, 21 August. - (ANA) - Wildfires could burn nearly three times as much of Europe each year by the end of the century. 

 

That is the conclusion of a study published on Thursday (20 August) by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). 

 

“Climate change is driving up fire activity across Europe as hot, dry and windy conditions become more severe,” said Maik Billing, PIK researcher and lead author of the study.

 

Under a high-emissions pathway, annual burned area rises by around 192 percent, the modelling found.

 

Even on a low-emissions pathway, equivalent to roughly 1.8 degrees Celsius of warming, wildfires would ravage a surface area 39 percent larger by the end of the century than they currently do.

 

The researchers came to the figures by comparing projected averages for 2070-2100 against a modelled 2000-2030 baseline and ran two separate fire models across five climate projections.

 

“Our results indicate there could be widespread increases in burned area even under comparatively low warming,” said Billing.

 

“But if we emit more, and global temperatures rise by roughly 3.6°C, we see fires become much more prevalent [aslo] areas that to date have not experienced many fires,” he also said, referring to places like western Germany and the Netherlands. 

 

The worst hit regions in Europe would be the Mediterranean, but other local wildfire hotspots would likely emerge in the foothills of mountainous areas like the Alps, Pyrenees and Carpathians.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/21 August 2026 - - -