The recent Urban Physics publication The potential of urban trees to reduce heat-related mortality in London has received coverage in the iNews newspaper, while co-author Oscar Brousse was interviewed about the paper on Sky News breakfast tv.
In the paper, we use personal weather stations from across London, along with the tree coverage where stations are located, to estimate the cooling impact of trees. The potential for the urban trees to reduce heat-related mortality is then estimated based on these temperature differences. Results indicate that trees have saved around 150 lives over the eight year period of the study, including 16 lives during the extreme heatwave in 2022.
The study builds upon other studies that have shown the benefit of trees on population health, including encouraging physical activity and improving mental health, as well as benefits for the plant such as carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and water retention.
You can see the full paper here.