Cooling the cities

A health impact

A study conducted as part of the European GoGreenRoutes project concludes that increasing tree cover in major European cities to at least 30% could reduce deaths directly related to urban heat islands by one third. The quantitative assessment covers the summer of 2015 and the population of 93 European cities, aged 20 years and over. Out of 6,700 premature deaths attributable to heat waves, 2,644 could have been avoided by increasing the tree cover of cities by 30% for an average decrease of 0.4°C, or 1.84% of summer deaths.

> More information : Cooling cities through urban green infrastructure: a health impact assessment of European cities