SFU Study Estimates Trillions in Global Wildfire Costs

A researcher from Simon Fraser University estimates that climate-driven wildfires could cost $43 billion annually and $2.1 trillion cumulatively by the end of the century globally, provided global temperatures rise between three and four degrees Celsius. For Canada, the study estimates that costs related to suppression, net timber yield loss, and nature-based recreation loss could amount to $866 million annually and $46 billion cumulatively by the year 2,100.

The research provides an economic quantification of the financial risk associated with climate-driven wildfires. The Canadian estimate is noted as constrained because it does not factor in health costs, which the researcher described as being 'absolutely gigantic' over longer time scales.