Sydney is a growing city located on the east coast of Australia, with the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Blue Mountains to the west.
Surrounded by national parks, recreation areas, and a military reserve, Greater Sydney provides more than five million residents with many opportunities for outdoor activities and is considered one of the most livable cities in the world.
Millions of tourists visit Sydney annually to enjoy its outdoor offerings and cultural landmarks like the Sydney Opera House. Tourism plays a leading role in Sydney's market economy, ranked eleventh in the world for economic opportunity.
To protect the beauty and value of the land it is responsible for managing, the City of Sydney is green, global, and connected. Its Sustainable Sydney 2030-2050 Continuing the Vision strategy calls for a sustainable future where everyone does their part to respond to the climate.
The City of Sydney acknowledges the Gadigal of the Eora Nation as the Traditional Custodians of this place we now call Sydney, and we acknowledge their continued connection to Country. We pay respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past, present and emerging.
A grey metal bridge crosses a blue sky and over a reflection of Sydney to the city shoreline
A large deciduous tree stands alone in Observatory Hill Park in Sydney
Cathedral Square flowers as a part of Sydney’s spring 2019 Living Colour display that features more than 24,000 plants in multiple locations across the city
Sydney, Australia prioritizes green canopy and cover to counter the effects of urban heat.
Climate challenges
The summer of 2023 is set to deliver the hottest temperatures on record – making Australia one of the warmest places on Earth.
Global heating is occurring faster in Australia than anywhere else in the world — its average surface temperature has already increased more than 1.4ºC since 1910. Like other urban areas, Sydney’s buildings, roads, and footpaths create heat islands by absorbing heat during the day and releasing it at night.
Trees, on the other hand, reduce air temperature by blocking the sun’s rays and improve the air we breathe. In the past decade, more than half of Sydney’s neighborhoods have lost urban forest cover to population growth, and experts warn that suburbs lacking sufficient tree cover may become unlivable.
Building upon previous successes, Sydney established several ambitious targets for 2050 to address the potential environmental, economic, and health effects of its warming climate. Green cover, or all the measured urban vegetation, and tree canopies, or greening greater than three meters above ground, are integral to reaching these targets.
Targets for Sydney
Current in 2022
Proposed by 2050
Green cover
32%
40%
Canopy cover
19.8%
27%
Scroll between the two illustrations below to see how those targets translate into actions for Sydney government, businesses, and private citizens.
An illustration that shows the current greening in the City of Sydney
An illustration that visualized the greening projects needed in the City of Sydney to reach its greening goals
Geospatial solutions
Sydney’s urban forestry and spatial services departments are using Esri GIS software to map urban heat and suburban tree canopy and greening to identify areas of greatest need and inform actions.
To get started, they measure Sydney's urban greening from the air using a camera mounted to a plane. Then analysts examine the raw data to reveal categories, patterns, and other insights.
The departments then create data visualizations to communicate key details about their findings and develops strategies to address the findings.
Let's run through a few examples.
01 / 05
Simply move the buffer area around to see the canopy and greening coverage in any part of Sydney.
Compare an aerial and thermal view of a neighborhood to see the relationship between heat and canopy cover. Here the canopy cover is around 20%.
At a glance, with a thermal image, see the level of greening needed in each Sydney community. Search for a location or zoom around. Use the pop up legend to make sense of the colors.
Does a green area include a diversity of tree and plant species? Does the areas biodiversity support a vibrant wildlife population? Diversity is important for animals, to limit plant disease spread, and to avoid all trees reaching maturity at the same time.
Search this map to learn tree age, species, and diversity within a community.
Does that data all look the same to you? Not quite sure about where you should begin? These slides walk through several changes over time using side-by-side maps.
The departments have completed additional data visualizations that overlay green and canopy cover maps with socio-economic data to identify areas most in need of planting.
"Trees can last for well over 100 years, yet most people occupy their houses for less than 10 years. We must consider ourselves as custodians rather than masters, and nurture and improve our greenery for the benefit of following generations." —Lord Mayor of Sydney Clover Moore
With clear vision and GIS tools in hand, Sydney's urban forestry department released a new Urban Forest Strategy with four directives.
An integrated forest
A growing forest
A forest for all
A resilient forest
Learn about the plan and directives from the diverse, interdisciplinary team that created it.
Sydney Tree Strategy
Trees improve the environment and quality of life every day. In just 12 months, one mature tree can absorb 3,400 litres of stormwater, filter 27kg of pollutants from the air, and provide a cooling effect equivalent to running 10 air conditioners continuously. And the benefits of urban biodiversity are numerous, from environmental health and human health.
A illustration of trees planted on green, rolling hills with people enjoying the natural landscape and words describing the health benefits of nature and trees
By 2035 we will achieve net zero emissions in the City of Sydney local area.
Target 2
By 2050 there will be a minimum overall green cover of 40%, including 27% tree canopy cover.
Target 3
By 2030 residential potable water use will be reduced to 170 litres a person a day in the City of Sydney local area. Non-residential potable water use will be reduced by 10% (measured per square metre) from 2018/19 levels.
Target 4
By 2030 there will be a 15% reduction in waste generated by each person based on 2015 levels. And by 2030 there will be 90% recycling and recovery of residential waste, commercial and industrial waste, and construction and demolition waste, which will be maintained at that level to 2050.
Target 5
By 2036 there will be approximately 700,000 jobs in the City of Sydney local area including 200,000 new jobs compared to 2017 – an increased proportion of all jobs will be secure jobs.
Target 6
By 2036 there will be at least 156,000 private dwellings and 17,500 non-private dwellings that include boarding houses and student accommodation. Of the private dwellings, 7.5% will be social housing and 7.5% will be affordable housing with this proportion maintained into the future.
Target 7
By 2036 there will be at least 40,000m2 of new cultural production floor space in the City of Sydney local area compared to 2017.
Target 8
By 2050 people will use public transport, walk or cycle to travel to and from work. This includes 9 out of 10 people working in the city centre and 2 out of 3 people working in the rest of the local area.
Target 9
By 2030 every resident will be around a 10-minute walk to what they need for daily life.
Target 10
By 2050 community cohesion and social interaction will have increased. This is based on at least 75% of the local resident population feeling part of the community, agreeing most people can be trusted and believing that when needed, they can get help from their neighbors.
Resources
Explore urban heat resources to green your own city or community.
A geographic approach puts our greatest challenges in context and drives solutions for a sustainable future. And user-friendly GIS tools provide universal access to critical information.
The Growing Green Citiescollection shares the sustainability stories of four cities: Kitakyushu, Japan; London, England; Norfolk, United States of America; and Sydney, Australia. Read about their climate challenges and the GIS solutions that support local leaders, planners, and scientists as they build more resilient communities.
Explore the map below to access the four stories. Each map pin with pop up includes a story link.
