A new study suggests that the cooling potential of greenery is reduced in sweltering conditions.
Many cities have undertaken initiatives to plant more trees to help combat climate-driven urban overheating. However, those bold planting efforts may not be as effective in tackling the issue as we once thought.
A study by researchers Kai Gao, Dr Jei Feng and found that the heat mitigation benefit of trees is significantly hampered in extremely hot conditions. The findings, published in , show that conventional climate models overestimated the ability of trees to cool during heat waves by 60 per cent.
“Adding green infrastructure, especially planting trees, is a commonly employed measure to mitigate against urban heat,” says Prof. Santamouris, co-author of the study and the Anita Lawrence Chair in High-Performance Architecture at . “But as our research shows, trees have some limits when mitigating urban heat during heat waves.
“It’s not to say that tree planting initiatives aren’t important for heat mitigation, but that large-scale planting policies require careful consideration.”
