Group of men on a hillside, an aircraft flying low, over a wildfire in the forest.

Locals look at burning forest during a wildfire on the island of Evia, Greece. When trees die by fire, they release into the atmosphere the carbon stored within them. This is why the effect of wildfires on emissions is among the most feared climate feedback loops of the world's forests, which have typically been carbon sinks, would become carbon sources, unleashing all that stored gas. Rising temperatures evaporate moisture from the ground, drying out the soil, and making vegetation more flammable.