Canada’s first-ever national carbon map reveals the location of billions — yes, billions — of tonnes of carbon stored in ecosystems across the country. This data, and how we use it, could alter the pace of climate change.

High-carbon landscapes play an important role in regulating the Earth’s climate by removing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in natural ecosystems. If these ecosystems are disturbed, that stored carbon can be released back to the atmosphere, accelerating climate change.

A new study by WWF-Canada, led by scientists at McMaster University’s Remote Sensing Lab, has measured, for the first time, how much carbon is stored in Canada’s landscapes, and where the biggest stores can be found. The results are staggering: Canada stores a massive 327 Pg (that’s 327 billion tonnes) of carbon in its terrestrial ecosystems — equivalent to about 25 years of human-caused global greenhouse gas emissions at 2019 emission levels. Large carbon storage areas are often found in Indigenous territories, as a result of millennia of responsible management by Indigenous Peoples.