Wildfires across Los Angeles have claimed at least five lives and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes. Some blazes are threatening to engulf parts of Hollywood.Here is what we know about the disaster.- Record damage -The two main outbreaks, Palisades and Eaton, have already destroyed 1,000 buildings each.That makes them the two most destructive in the history of Los Angeles County, according to data from the California Fire Department.- Causes of the fires -Last year’s El Nino weather system brought heavy rains that fuelled excessive vegetation growth in the first half of 2024. Then in the second half of the year there was drought across southern California, with only 4 mm (0.15 inches) of rain in central LA.Those dry conditions combined with strong winds, which fanned the five outbreaks ravaging Los Angeles.In addition, the temperature — around 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) in the Californian megacity in the middle of the day — is high for the start of winter. “We see these fires spread when it is hot and dry and windy, and right now all of those conditions are in place in southern California,” Kristina Dahl, vice president for science at Climate Central, told AFP.- The toll so far -The fires have killed five people, but the city authorities fear they will find more bodies in the charred debris. Compared to other fires that have ravaged California in recent years, which sometimes extended over several thousand square kilometres, the current outbreaks are small: nearly 120 square kilometres (close to 30 acres). What sets them apart from previous wildfires is how destructive they have been, despite being located in residential areas.They have around 2,000 houses or buildings since Tuesday, forcing the evacuation of more than 100,000 Los Angeles residents, including in the historic Hollywood district, whose famous Boulevard is threatened by flames. The flames have destroyed a hundred luxury residences costing millions of dollars, which means it the fire could be the costliest ever recorded: damage was estimated at $57 billion (55 billion euros) by AccuWeather.- Disruption -On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden was in Los Angeles, where he had been expected to announce the creation of two new national monuments.Strong winds forced the cancellation of that announcement, and several other scheduled events were either cancelled or postponed due to the wildfires.These included the annual Critics Choice Awards gala, a televised Hollywood ceremony that had been set for the weekend normally attended by many A-list stars.Next week’s unveiling of the Oscar nominations was also pushed back, to January 19.Filming of LA-based shows such as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Hacks” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” has also been paused, and the Universal Studios theme park has closed.Biden cancelled his upcoming trip to Italy, which would probably have been his final overseas trip as president, to focus instead on the federal response to the fires.

US greenhouse gas emissions barely decreased in 2024, leaving the world’s largest economy off track to achieve its climate goals, according to an analysis released Thursday, as the incoming Trump administration looks set to double down on fossil fuels.The preliminary estimate by the Rhodium Group, an independent research organization, found a net fall of just 0.2 percent in economy-wide emissions.Lower manufacturing output drove the modest decline, but it was undercut by increased air and road travel and higher electricity demand.Study co-author Ben King told AFP the small drop came despite the US economy expanding last year by 2.7 percent, “a continuation of a trend that we’ve seen where there’s a decoupling between economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions.”Overall, emissions remain below pre-pandemic levels and about 20 percent below 2005 levels, the benchmark year for US commitments under the Paris Agreement. The accord aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, to avert the worst catastrophes of planet-wide heating.But with 2024 effectively static, decarbonization must accelerate across all sectors. “To meet its Paris Agreement target of a 50-52 percent reduction in emissions by 2030, the US must sustain an ambitious 7.6 percent annual drop in emissions from 2025 to 2030,” the report said — an unprecedented pace outside of a recession.What’s more, Trump has signaled plans to roll back President Joe Biden’s green policies, including rules that require sweeping cuts from fossil fuel power plants and provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, which channels hundreds of billions of dollars into clean energy. Should these plans materialize, the US would likely achieve only a 24–40 percent emissions reduction by 2035, the report concluded.- Off track -Even under Biden, the US has logged more tepid reductions compared to some other major emitters.German greenhouse gas emissions fell by three percent in 2024, following a 10 percent year-on-year drop the previous year, according to Agora Energiewende. The European Union’s emissions are forecast to have dropped by 3.8 percent in 2024, according to Carbon Brief, a UK-based analysis site.Such predictions precede official government data and only represent estimates, meaning final figures can vary significantly. US emissions have been trending downward in bumpy fashion since they peaked in 2004. They fell 3.3 percent in 2023 but rose 1.3 percent in 2022 and 6.3 percent in 2021 amid a post-pandemic rebound.”When we looked at the Inflation Reduction Act a couple of years ago… we would have expected slightly lower emissions today than we’re seeing right now,” said King. Still, these investments may just need more time to pay off: with the report finding clean energy and transportation spending reached a record $71 billion in last year’s third quarter.”It’s kind of a mixed bag from my perspective,” King said.- Air conditioning demand -Positives in the report include a bigger share of green energy in the grid — solar and wind combined surpassed coal for the first time — and a drop in methane emissions from reduced coal use and cleaner oil and gas production.Climate scientist Michael Mann of the University of Pennsylvania told AFP he welcomed the continued decoupling of growth and emissions.But “emissions aren’t coming down anywhere near the rate they need to, yet at least,” he added.”Simply flatlining emissions puts the United States even farther off track from meeting its climate commitments,” warned Debbie Weyl, US Acting Director for the World Resources Institute.Rachel Cleetus, policy director with the climate and energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, called the findings “sobering,” noting the increased electricity demand came from residential buildings requiring more air conditioning.”Now that’s a reality, as we see year upon year of the temperature records being broken,” she told AFP, as 2024 is set to be named the hottest year on record.