Indonesian wildfire emissions surge to world's highest, data shows

Indonesia is grappling with its most intense wildfire season in eleven years, as extreme heat and severe drought linked to a super El Niño bring record-breaking emissions to the forefront. Carbon dioxide readings from September 1 to September 7 have reached the highest levels globally, according to data from Fire Emissions Watch, a portal developed by the European Union's Copernicus climate monitoring service.

These emissions have overtaken Russia and now constitute more than a third of the global total. The country's environment ministry acknowledges the hazardous air quality in regions like West Kalimantan, where the air quality index reached 394, considered hazardous by Swiss air quality monitoring firm IQAir. While Indonesia has lost approximately 2.6 million hectares to fires in 2015, fire hotspots have surged to 13,443 from 9,454 over the same period in 2015, according to the Indonesian forest ministry monitoring platform Sipongi.

Fire emissions intensity exceeded 1,500 kg/sq km, more than ten times the Russian level, with the highest concentrations in Kalimantan and eastern parts of Sumatra. Despite the alarming data, it's possible that the extent of the problem may be underrepresented, as some peat fires may be below the detection limit of the sensors.