Throw shade: 96% of UK cities have less tree cover than average European city

If you’ve been struggling to find a patch of shade during a summer heatwave, here’s the reason – UK towns and cities rank 31st out of 38 countries for urban tree cover. The average UK town or city has trees shading just shy of 18% of it compared to an European average of 30%. 

Analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) of Copernicus satellite data compared 767 European towns and cities. The research found that cities such as Barcelona (31%), Madrid (29%), Marseille (28%) and Nice (39%) have more tree canopy than any large UK city including London (18%).  

Guildford and Hastings had the most tree cover among UK places ranked, as the only two cities to surpass the European average of 30%. Meanwhile Burnley, Cheshire West and Chester, and Coventry had the least tree cover. Both Leeds and Brighton are in the bottom 10 of the rankings which assessed 47 UK towns and cities. 

According to the research, the UK’s shadiest major city is Greater Manchester at 27%. But this figure for urban tree canopy is much higher than the number used by local charity City of Trees, which puts the city-region canopy cover at 15.7%, according to its i-Tree Eco survey.

The data from City of Trees agrees, however, that Greater Manchester has a greater density of trees than London – the combined authority has a tree density of 89 trees per hectare, significantly higher than the average density of trees in London (53 trees/ha) and the UK average for towns and cities (58 trees/ ha). 

City of Trees planted an additional 40,000 new trees in Greater Manchester last year including 2,091 larger trees – the charity has the ambition to increase the overall tree canopy by 2% and in certain locations, slow the rate of rainwater run-off to manage flood risk.

According to City of Trees’ i-Tree Eco survey, the most densely populated areas and urban centres of Greater Manchester have the least tree cover. Approximately 30% of the conurbation’s trees are in moderate or poor condition due to disease or other factors, suggesting they may need to be replaced.

While 86% of trees in London were found to be in excellent or good condition, just under 72% of Greater Manchester’s trees assessed by i-Tree Eco met the same standard, suggesting better tree management or perhaps a greater proportion of public trees. According to i-Tree Eco figures, more than 70% of Greater Manchester’s trees are in private ownership, compared to 60% of London trees. 

Shade from a tree canopy can help to bring down temperatures in towns and cities, reducing the amount of heat absorbed by hard surfaces throughout the day which is released over time. According to UCL modelling during the July 2022 heatwave, parts of Greater London were up to 7.2 degrees warmer due to the urban heat island effect.

Trees cool streets by providing shade and releasing water vapour which lowers the air temperature. A global study of urban tree cooling in 806 cities estimated that an increase in canopy reduces midday temperatures by an estimated 1.3 to 1.5 degrees – while another study showed trees can reduce air temperatures by up to 5.8 degrees and surface temperatures by up to 12°C, depending on canopy density, climate type and measurement method. 

The analysis by ECIU to rank European cities for urban tree cover used data from the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service Urban Atlas 2018 extracted by the European Environment Agency. 

It found London ranks 565th out of 767 cities. Not one city in the UK made Europe’s top 200 for tree cover.

“The UK is way behind European counterparts, albeit cities like Manchester are in better shape than others," said Tom Cantillon, Senior Analyst – Carbon and Land at the ECIU:

"Planting trees can over time help to bring down temperatures in the buildings they shade, and give more vulnerable people hope of being able to leave their homes into less risky temperatures to do things like shop and visit the GP."

Find out more Read the findings and see urban regions ranked by tree cover