Story perspectives

Study Links 40% Western Wildfires to Fossil Fuel Emissions

6/6/2026

Summary

Story summary

A 2023 study linked 40% of western U.S. wildfire acreage to emissions from the largest fossil-fuel companies.
Exxon, Shell and the American Petroleum Institute issued reports from 1981-1998 warning that rising emissions would intensify drought and disrupt agriculture.
Drought now blankets 99% of the Southeast, 90% of Nebraska and most of the West.
The drought fuels wildfires, an eight-fold rise in Georgia’s burned acreage this year and a Utah emergency.

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Story summary

A 2023 study linked 40% of western U.S. wildfire acreage to emissions from the largest fossil-fuel companies.
Exxon, Shell and the American Petroleum Institute issued reports from 1981-1998 warning that rising emissions would intensify drought and disrupt agriculture.
Drought now blankets 99% of the Southeast, 90% of Nebraska and most of the West.
The drought fuels wildfires, an eight-fold rise in Georgia’s burned acreage this year and a Utah emergency.