The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, last week launched a massive £3.1m tree planting package to protect and future-proof London, in response to the catastrophic impacts of climate change.

It comes after a huge number of devastating fires raged across the capital in July caused by record high temperatures, prompting London Fire Brigade (LFB) to declare a major incident. London remains at immediate risk of wildfires because of tinder dry grass, with LFB warning that any small sparks can start a serious fire. Meanwhile, the Environment Agency has warned that more prolonged dry weather in the coming weeks could push London and the southeast into a drought as soon as August.

Since 2016 the Mayor has funded the planting of over 430,000 trees across London, including two major woodland creation projects, creating an additional 85 hectares of new accessible green space in the Green Belt. Sadiq has also invested over £20 million in green infrastructure programmes that have supported green space projects in all 32 boroughs and the City of London, improving or creating over 500 hectares of green space. This includes over 250 community green space projects, more than 80 community tree planting projects and six major capital projects.

Heat in cities is intensified by the ‘Urban Heat Island’ effect, a result of sun rays being absorbed by hard surfaces instead of trees, plants and grass. Increasing the number of trees in London will help tackle this, cooling the city, providing shade to Londoners as well as making London more resilient to flooding.

London’s existing trees are estimated to provide at least £133m of benefits to Londoners every year. They help improve air quality by removing 2,241 tonnes of pollution annually, including harmful PM10 particulates and NO2 roadside emissions as well as making our streets more beautiful and encouraging walking and cycling. Trees also create a vital habitat for London’s wildlife, reduce flood risk and help to tackle climate change through absorbing and storing carbon.

The Mayor’s funding package will be targeted in areas there are low numbers of existing trees and where Londoners are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The Mayor’s Climate Vulnerability Map shows areas of London with Black, Asian and minority ethnic populations of more than 50 per cent are more likely to face the highest climate risk in London including flooding, exposure to toxic air, heat risk and limited access to green space.

The package includes:

• A £0.8m top up to the Mayor’s Grow Back Greener community grant scheme. As well as supporting projects that increase access to green space the fund will now also support communities and boroughs to plants more trees for shade.
• A £1m street trees programme including supporting borough sign up to the Trees for Streets tree sponsorship initiative and match funding 1,000 trees in areas of low canopy cover, helping residents, businesses and boroughs to green our streets. The Mayor will also be funding borough surveys to identify potential tree planting locations, ready to support more tree planting next winter.
• £320k for community tree packs to community groups and schools with The Conservation Volunteers
• £1m for transformational tree planting and woodland creation projects to create shady groves in areas of high heat risk. Call for sites from landowners and developers for ideas and locations.