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Area of Impact

Land Use & Land Health

Indicator

Tree Canopy Coverage - Areas with Sufficient Tree Canopy

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 42%
2018 42%
2020 42%
2022 37%

Sustainability End Goal

Every tree canopy monitoring area has at least a 30% tree canopy coverage. 

Metric

Total number of tree canopy monitoring areas with at least 30% tree canopy cover
Total number of tree canopy monitoring areas (19)

How The Score Is Calculated

If there are 19 tree canopy monitoring areas and 3 of them have at least a 30% tree canopy coverage, the score is 3/19 = 16%

Indicator Data

Note

Tree canopy monitoring areas follows the boundaries of most planning/census track areas but sometimes are further divided into smaller areas to differentiate the tree canopy coverage in more populated areas from that in less populated areas. 

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.

Our Progress

Explore this topic further through the Tree Canopy Dashboard.

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