According to a study by the Technical University of Munich, around 320 million trees are killed by lightning strikes every year worldwide. The burning or subsequent decomposition of the affected trees releases between 770 million and 1.09 billion tonnes of CO₂. This amount is roughly equivalent to the CO₂ released when living plants are lost in forest fires.

Tropical regions are particularly affected. The study, based on global model calculations, shows that the damage to trees caused by lightning strikes has been significantly underestimated to date. With climate change, thunderstorms – and thus also lightning damage – are expected to occur more frequently in higher latitudes in the future. In the long term, however, this process is part of natural cycles, as vegetation regenerates.