The Earth is currently transitioning from a predominantly rural planet to a predominantly urban planet; from 2000 to 2030, urbanized areas will almost triple (Seto et al. 2012). The use of dark building materials, such as asphalt and concrete, leads to lower albedo in urbanized areas compared to the natural environment (Rosenzweig et al. 2011), promoting local and global warming. In turn, increasing urban albedo could support climate stabilization (REF) efforts. Here we investigate the potential effect of increasing albedo in a representative set of European cities based on three parameters: a) instantaneous radiative forcing; b) urban cooling; c) reduction in mortality. We find distinct but surprising geographic variation in radiative forcing potential. Central European cities can modify radiative forcing as effectively as Southern European cities, reflecting their sometimes relatively larger urban area. However, the more local parameters of urban cooling and in particular the resulting health impacts show the greatest benefits of albedo changes in southern European cities, underlining the need for geographically stratified albedo policies to maximize benefits. Mitigation and adaptation to climate change is one of the great challenges of our time (GEA 2012). As progress in addressing climate change remains locked in complicated negotiations internationally (Edenhofer et al. 2013), cities may represent the appropriate spatial scale to address multifaceted challenges such as climate change (Barber, 2013). Even if city decision-makers react reluctantly to top-down mitigation and adaptation plans (Reckien et al. 2014), they successfully implement local measures that pursue co-benefits and cost savings from climate change mitigation. paper ......al cycles, 15 (4), 891 – 907 (2001)30. Santamouris, M., Cooling Cities – A Review of Reflective Mitigation Technologies and Green Roofs to Combat Heat Island and Improve Comfort in Urban Environments. Solar Energy, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2012.07.003 (2012)31. Jacobson, M.Z., Ten Hoeve, J., E., Effects of urban surfaces and white roofs on global and regional climate, Journal of Climate, 25, 1028 – 1044 (2012)32. Georgescu, M., Marefield, P.E., Bierwagen, B.G., Weaver, C.P., Urban adaptation can slow warming of emerging megapolitical regions, PNAS (2014)33. Baccini, M., Biggeri, A., Accept, G., Kosatsky, T., Katsouyanni, K., Analitis, A., Anderson, H., R., Bisanti, L., D´Ippoliti, D., Danova, J., Forsberg, B., Medina, S., Paldy, A., Rabczenko, D., Schindler, C., Michelozzi, P., Effects of heat on mortality in 15 European cities, Epidemiology (2008)