--- title: Planting More Trees Could Prevent Heat Wave Deaths in Cities description: One third of heat-related deaths in European cities could be prevented with more tree cover, according to a new modeling study. canonical: https://time.com/6252307/planting-trees-prevent-heat-wave-deaths/ author: Haley Weiss article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-02-02T17:09:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T15:22:51.570Z article:section: Health og:title: Heat-Related Deaths Are Rising. Here's How Cities Can Keep Residents Safer og:description: Planting more trees helps reduce the deadly effects of heat waves, one study finds og:url: https://time.com/6252307/planting-trees-prevent-heat-wave-deaths/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1059d811a1d63d4/698a3a01457a52f35ed6748c/GettyImages-1216445955.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2121 og:image:height: 1193 og:image:alt: View of one of the main avenues called "Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes" og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Heat-Related Deaths Are Rising. Here's How Cities Can Keep Residents Safer twitter:description: Planting more trees helps reduce the deadly effects of heat waves, one study finds twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1059d811a1d63d4/698a3a01457a52f35ed6748c/GettyImages-1216445955.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Heat-Related Deaths Are Rising. Here's How Cities Can Keep Residents Safer > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=31e47ea6-3681-4157-8e97-fe78987ccc70&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Haley Weiss](https://time.com/author/haley-weiss/)  ## Haley Weiss Feb 2, 2023 5:09 PM UTC  View of "Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes" in Barcelona. View of "Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes" in Barcelona. theendup—Getty Images  by [Haley Weiss](https://time.com/author/haley-weiss/)  ## Haley Weiss Feb 2, 2023 5:09 PM UTC Living in a city sometimes feels like living in the future. Urban life can mean exposure to new technologies, new ideas—and, sometimes, previews of the temperatures coming soon to nearby regions. In Europe, during hot periods, cities are an average of 2.7°F (1.5°C) warmer than surrounding areas, according to [research](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2822%2902585-5/fulltext) published Jan. 31 in the _Lancet_. That amount may sound small, but [scientists have also pinpointed](https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/) it as the increase above pre-industrial temperatures that humanity will have to stick to for the best-case climate-change scenario. These so-called urban heat islands can be deadly, especially as [heat waves become more frequent](https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/19/10923) in high-density places around the world. In summer 2022, urban areas across Europe clocked [record-breaking highs](https://time.com/5635062/europe-heatwave-temperature-records/), and 26 U.S. cities recorded their [hottest ever seasons](https://nypost.com/2022/09/03/us-feels-the-heat-as-26-cities-report-hottest-summers-ever/). The result is a public health crisis for cities not designed to withstand extreme heat. “London could be as hot as Barcelona in 20 years’ time if we’re not careful, and Barcelona could be like Marrakech,” says Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, the study’s co-author and director of urban planning, environment, and health at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health. Cities really need to chill out, and while adding [air conditioning is more likely to contribute to global warming than it is to fix it](https://time.com/6199353/air-conditioning-will-not-save-us/), the study models a more sustainable approach. The paper, which includes data from 93 European cities, found that in 2015, more than 4% of summertime deaths in those cities could be traced back to the effects of urban heat islands. But when researchers adjusted the model to reflect a hypothetical, much leafier Europe—with 30% of city spaces shrouded by trees—the number of heat-related deaths dropped by more than a third. Modeling cities that are 30% shaded by trees isn’t random; it’s an actual target that many European cities are working towards, and that some, like Oslo, have already achieved. But with a current average coverage of 14.9%, many cities in warmer areas—for instance, Split, Croatia (5.4%); [Paris](https://time.com/5439996/paris-greenery-canopy-cover/) (9%); and Lisbon (3.6%)—have a ways to go. (For comparison, in the U.S., [New York City](https://www.nature.org/en-us/newsroom/newyork-cities-practical-canopy-analysis/)’s tree cover clocked in at 22% in 2017.) **Read More**: [_Cow Burps Have a Big Climate Impact. Solving That is Harder than You’d Think_](https://time.com/6251162/cow-burps-climate-impact-methane-emissions/) Trees provide more cooling services than just shade. Leaves are full of water, and when it gets hot out, that water evaporates and fizzles into the warm air, causing a cooling effect not unlike a microscopic mist. Then, there are the less measurable implications of additional tree coverage in an area. “Where you have trees, you don’t have roads,” says Nieuwenhuijsen, and every inch without asphalt matters. The problem of asphalt is multifold, he explains. Aside from slurping up every ounce of daytime sunlight and releasing its warmth gradually, often hijacking otherwise-cooler night air, asphalt means cars. About [60% of the energy that fossil-fuel powered cars release ](https://fueleconomy.gov/feg/atv.shtml)is in the form of heat. “If asphalt is an indicator for having more cars, generally, trees are an indicator for having a more livable area,” Nieuwenhuijsen adds. In Barcelona, which has a thriving bus system, only one out of every four transit trips is by car, yet those very vehicles [take up 60% of the city’s space](https://www.barcelona.cat/bcnmetropolis/2007-2017/en/temes/editorial-2/). For some cities that were originally designed with cars in mind—only 12.4% of Phoenix, Ariz., was covered by trees [when it began a 2010 greening project](https://www.phoenix.gov/parkssite/Documents/PKS%5FForestry/PKS%5FForestry%5FMap%5FTree%5FCanopy.pdf)—reaching 30% tree coverage could mean undertaking a fundamental redesign of certain city spaces and the ways that people move within them. “Having more trees in urban areas makes them more thermally comfortable and safer. But I would add that it’s also important that we use the right species of trees and put them in the right locations in order to maximize the effect,” says Robert Brown, a professor of landscape architecture and urban planning at Texas A&M University, who was not involved with the study. Trees in urban areas already face [higher risks of dying](https://cosmosmagazine.com/nature/plants/urban-trees-grow-fast-and-die-young/) in their first few years after being planted, and with limited local budgets, there’s a good case for prioritizing species that can easily thrive in the neighborhoods where they’re needed most. Heat is the [leading weather-related killer](https://www.weather.gov/hazstat/), but death is only the most extreme measure of the health toll that increased temperatures can take. Heat can also put a [major strain on mental health](https://time.com/6202849/extreme-heat-health-risks/), in part by potentially impairing sleep. Tree coverage wouldn’t just keep more people alive, Nieuwenhuijsen argues—it could make those lives better day-to-day. Cities with limited budgets should also remember to care for the green spaces that they do already have, says Nieuwenhuijsen. And additional greening doesn’t always have to mean a lush new 10-block park. The relationship between tree coverage and preventable deaths demonstrated in the study is linear, which means that every bit helps. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6252307/planting-trees-prevent-heat-wave-deaths/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6252307/planting-trees-prevent-heat-wave-deaths/"},"headline":"Heat-Related Deaths Are Rising. 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