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Area of Impact

Land Use & Land Health

Indicator

Tree Canopy Coverage - Neighbourhood

Integrated Policy & Action Areas

C1.1

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction

C1.2

Climate Adaptation & Hazard Mitigation

C1.3

Urban Tree Canopy, Natural Areas, & Greenways

C1.4

Healthy Watersheds

Reporting Period Data

Period Score
2016 44%
2018 44%
2020 44%
2022 39%

Sustainability End Goal

Every neighbourhood has at least a 30% tree canopy coverage.

Metric

The number of neighbourhoods that have at least a 30% tree canopy coverage
Total number of neighbourhoods in the city

How The Score Is Calculated

If there are 18 neighborhoods and 3 of them have at least a 30% tree canopy coverage, the score is 3/18 = 17%

Indicator Data

Total Number of Neighborhoods that have at least 30% Tree Canopy and Target

Tree Canopy Coverage % per Planning Area

Rationale and Analysis

Why We Measure This

Urban forests enhance ecological, climate and human health benefits. Cities should aim for at least 30% tree canopy cover to help stop and reverse biodiversity loss and improve health benefits. Ideally, they should reach 40% canopy cover to achieve significant cooling benefits as more summer days get hotter. Not everybody gets to enjoy the benefits of the tree canopy cover to the same degree. It is important to understand tree canopy coverage’s distribution and reduce tree inequality.

How We Measure It

Traditionally it is very labour intensive to assess tree canopy coverage accurately. Therefore, frequent updates and effective monitoring can be challenging. The City’s Geographic Information System (GIS) team is testing a new method that uses high-resolution imagery and remote sensing data to estimate tree canopy coverage. It’s expected to make the process easier and give good estimates so updates can happen every two years on regular schedules.
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