El Niño: Indonesia fire emissions in 2026 ‘on track’ to match record for this century
Wildfires in Indonesia are currently on track to match the record-breaking carbon emissions seen during the 2015 El Niño season. Experts warn that the ongoing climate phenomenon is creating severe drought conditions, leading to unprecedented burning in regions like Papua.
Why it matters
The massive carbon output from these fires significantly impacts global climate goals and poses severe public health risks due to regional haze.
Share Wildfires currently burning large swathes of land in Indonesia are on track to produce emissions on a par with the country’s most-intense fire season this century, according to experts.
Data from the Global Fire Emissions Database reveals that, as of 7 September, fires in Indonesia produced 76m tonnes of carbon (MtC) in 2026.
This puts 2026 on the same trajectory as 2015 , when fires burned 2.6m hectares of land across the country and generated a total of 333MtC.
Dr Guido van der Werf , a researcher at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, tells Carbon Brief that the fires in Indonesia are “more or less on track” to reach levels seen 11 years ago.
Parts of the country – including the eastern province of Papua – are “burning more than they’ve ever burned”, he says.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in