The Park Fire in California has ravaged vast tracts of forestland designated for conservation under carbon credits initiatives backed by oil refiners and power companies. It has scorched approximately 450,000 acres, has destroyed nearly 45,000 acres of trees enrolled in California’s carbon offset program, according to estimates from the non-profit research group CarbonPlan. Additional fires earlier this year also impacted over 29,000 acres of forestland in Washington state and New Mexico that are part of California’s carbon credit scheme. Major oil corporations are among the purchasers of these credits. The destruction of conserved forests has raised concerns about the sustainability of carbon credit forestry projects in fire-prone regions. California’s program includes a “buffer pool” of unsold credits to replace losses from wildfires, pests, drought, etc. Every project contributes 10-20% of its credits to this pool. However, researchers are worried that the buffer pool is insufficient to address the scale of recent wildfires.