Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada – Dense evergreen plantations in Canada’s boreal forest absorb so much winter sunlight that the resulting surface warming can offset 6 to 20 percent of the climate benefit they are credited with. Canada’s current carbon accounting frameworks measure the carbon stored but largely omit the heat absorbed by these forests, according to a new Policy Brief from the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH). The result is inflated mitigation estimates and public investment in forests that may not deliver the cooling they promise. The Policy Brief “From Carbon Accounting to Net Cooling: Securing the Albedo-Carbon Double Win in Canada’s Boreal Forest” argues that Canada should judge reforestation by its net effect on temperature rather than by tonnes of carbon stored. “Canada has an opportunity here that few countries have,” said Professor Kaveh Madani, Director of UNU-INWEH.