By Angel Adegbesan | Bloomberg
California’s wildfires in 2020 wiped out nearly two decades of efforts by the state to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
The amount of pollutants from the Golden State’s most disastrous wildfire year on record was equal to twice the total amount of carbon emissions cut between 2003 and 2019, according to researchers with the University of California, Los Angeles, Fielding School of Public Health.
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Damages from the emissions are estimated to be close to $99 million for California and about $987 million for the US, the researchers said.
The 2020 carbon emissions represent a setback for the state, which has been a leader in the country’s fight against climate change. Emissions from the wildfires could be the second biggest source of green house gas emissions in California above either industry or electrical power generation, the researchers said.
“Essentially, the positive impact of all that hard work over almost two decades is at risk of being swept aside by the smoke produced in a single year of record-breaking wildfires,” Michael Jerrett, lead author of the research and professor of environmental health, said in a statement.
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