Heatwave: UK's overheating towns and cities rank way below European counterparts for tree shading – analysis

The finding lands after the England’s hottest June on record, which saw the Met Office issue its first-ever Red Extreme Heat warnings on three consecutive days [2].

The average UK urban area is just 17.9% tree-covered, against a European average of around 30% – a gap of roughly 12 percentage points. Of the 47 UK cities and urban areas in the dataset, 45 fall below the European average, and none appears in Europe's top 200. London ranks 565th of 767, at 18% cover.

The gap is starkest against cities that routinely endure far worse heat than Britain has faced to date. Barcelona (31%), Madrid (29%), Marseille (29%) and Nice (39%) all have more canopy than any large UK city; Greater Manchester, the greenest major British conurbation, manages 27%.

Tom Cantillon, Senior Analyst – Carbon and Land at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) said, "This recent stream of heatwaves is a stark reminder that climate change is disproportionately hitting the less well-off and vulnerable with less affluent parts of cities more likely to be covered in concrete and heat up more. But they are also the areas least able to afford the tech fixes they never used to need. In the here and now air conditioning to prevent overheating of schools, hospitals and homes of the sick, very young and elderly is clearly needed to try to protect people’s health. But with temperatures set to rise ever higher until we reach net zero emissions and bring balance back to the climate, we need to plan ahead.

“Planting trees can over time help to bring down temperatures in the buildings they shade, and give more vulnerable people hope of being able to leave their homes into less risky temperatures to do things like shop and visit the GP. The UK is way behind European counterparts, albeit cities like Manchester are in better shape than others.”

Urban areas run hotter than the countryside around them with the gap widest at night when dense urban fabric slowly releases the heat it has absorbed through the day. That was on display during the June 2026 heatwave, when the Met Office recorded widespread tropical nights – temperatures staying above 20°C – most persistent in urban areas, including a new June UK overnight record of 23.5°C at Cardiff [2]. During the record July 2022 heatwave, UCL modelling put the urban heat island at up to 7.2°C in parts of Greater London. That extra heat is lethal: of the roughly 1,773 deaths in Greater London during the two-week July 2022 heatwave, around 370 were attributed to heat – and about 38% of those were attributable to the urban heat island. [3]

Trees are one of the few interventions that tackle this directly, cooling streets by day through shade and releasing water vapour that lowers air temperature. A global study of 806 cities found greater canopy associated with midday surface-temperature reductions of around 1.5°C, and shade can make it feel up to 14°C cooler [4].

The heat is set to intensify. In its May 2026 assessment A Well-Adapted UK, the Climate Change Committee warned that the risk of extreme heat in homes and offices is projected to be four times higher in the 2050s than today, that under 2°C of warming around 92% of existing homes would overheat, and that heat-related hospital attendances could triple by mid-century. Additionally, heatwaves in excess of 45°C will become more likely [5].

Andy Love, Founder and Managing Director of Shade the UK said, “Behind these statistics are real people struggling to sleep, children learning in overheated classrooms and vulnerable residents living in homes that become dangerously hot. Expanding urban tree cover is one of the smartest investments we can make, but it should sit alongside a broader strategy that helps every neighbourhood become more resilient to extreme heat.”

The burden already falls unevenly. UK analysis finds the least canopy in the most deprived neighbourhoods, where streets run hotter and more polluted; higher-canopy neighbourhoods have been found to be up to 4°C cooler during a heatwave than lower-canopy ones in the same city [6].

Kate Sheldon, CEO of Trees for Cities said, “The lack of urban trees in the UK is stark. We need urgent action to improve resilience to climatic changes, including extreme heat. Within our towns and cities, the trees we do have tend to grow in more affluent areas, which means that underserved communities and vulnerable people are often most at risk – this is an environmental injustice. Trees offer a proven, low-cost natural solution whilst also delivering an array of other benefits to people's health and wellbeing. Tree planting efforts must be strategically targeted towards priority places, supported by resources to properly establish and maintain trees so that they survive and thrive long into the future, and must engage local communities to ensure local ownership and to create a new generation of tree custodians”.