How we're responding to climate change

Adapting to climate change and poor air quality means putting in place measures to minimise or overcome the impacts now and in the future.

Many adaptation measures also help mitigate climate change and poor air quality.

Trees absorb and screen air pollutants and sequester carbon, but also absorb water, slow the flow and reduce the amount of water going to the ground (as their leaves intercept raindrops and water evaporates from the leaves).

Tree roots bind the soil preventing it from being washed away and allow for better penetration of the water through the soil, thereby preventing flooding.

Trees, and green roofs and walls, also cool the air. This helps reduce the amount of energy required for cooling buildings, thereby saving the emissions associated with producing the energy.

Green roofs and walls also act as an additional layer of insulation on a building and this helps reduce the amount of energy required to heat or cool it.

There are extra benefits from plant-based (green) measures as well, such as:

• improving biodiversity
• food production (such as fruit trees and roof allotments)
• improving storm water quality
• being a barrier to noise and electro-magnetic radiation

Our tree planting schemes include the planting of 543,000 trees on council land.

We've also helped formalise a process whereby the public can support tree planting next to the public highway.