Annual Impact Report 2022/2023
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DownloadMessage from our CEO
In the midst of a climate catastrophe—after the hottest summer on record with devastating wildfires across Europe and Canada, and 10,000 Emperor Penguin chicks drowning due to melting Antarctic sea ice—it's a challenge not to lose hope.
Planting trees plants hope for the future. The simple but powerful act of planting a tree is a gateway to inspire more people to take action. Trees for Cities continues to deliver with unwavering commitment to plant and establish urban trees where they are needed most, transforming local spaces, galvanising communities, and making a difference. The trees we plant won't stop climate change, but unless we collectively empower people and communities to take action for nature, very little will change.
Kate Sheldon, CEO
This is the first year of delivering our Turn of Trees strategy, which provides a steadfast framework within which to strive towards our goal of creating healthy, resilient, accessible urban forests for all. We retain a clear focus on what we do best, and we remain committed to joining forces with others to amplify our impact.
2022-23 saw the culmination of some impactful multi-year programmes, including the first phase of urban forestry in coastal towns and cities. Working alongside local authorities and project partners, the “Forgotten Places” project showcases our model for strategic evidenced-based planting, demonstrating how urban forestry can play a vital role in the green recovery of our coastal heritage, which have suffered disproportionately from lack of investment and opportunity.
We're particularly proud of the innovative projects featured in this report—Trees for Climate Action, Language of Nature, Tree Cities of the World, Healthy Playgrounds, Trees for Streets and more—all of which seek to engage new and diverse audiences to our cause in fun, creative, and meaningful ways.
I want to pay sincere and heartfelt thanks to our dedicated staff, trustees, volunteers, partners and funders; everyone who works with us to make our towns and cities greener, cooler and leafier, adapting them to climatic changes and making them more resilient for future generations to enjoy.
Our Impact
Our impact results indicate that most community volunteers taking part in our Urban Forest Programme had never planted or looked after trees before, showing that we provide new opportunities to engage with trees and nature. On average, teenage or adult volunteers already value urban trees and are highly connected to nature before attending an event but most had no previous experience. Volunteers’ confidence, knowledge and skills to plant and look after urban trees increased and on average, children became more closely connected to nature from taking part in our events. Most volunteers said they had new plans to plant, take care of and/or promote urban trees in the next year after attending one of our events.
Through our Schools Programme, we have provided pupils with opportunities to learn and play outdoors in areas of high quality green space. We surveyed lead teachers at 14 schools which were engaged in Edible Playground, Planting Healthy Air and tree planting or forest garden projects in 2022-23. In terms of teaching and learning, most schools use their project space for science (79%), art (64%) and maths and English/literacy (57%) and have included the Trees for Cities project in their termly curriculum plans (79%) and school improvement plans (57%). The new project spaces are also used for extracurricular activities (e.g. gardening club). The majority of schools use the project space more than once a fortnight for teaching, during the summer term. Most schools are using their project space at playtime and lunchtime. All lead teachers felt that the Trees for Cities project is important to pupils and felt confident that projects will be sustained over the next five years.
A sample of 1264 community and corporate volunteers
A sample of 794 community and corporate volunteers
A sample of 585-1148 people:
Average confidence in tree planting: 3.5 out of 5 before and 4.3 out of 5 after the event
Average confidence in looking after trees: 3.2 out of 5 before and 3.7 out of 5 after the event
On a scale of 1 to 5,1 = not confident at all and 5 = completely confident.
A sample of 107-154 children. On average 44% of children felt highly connected to nature before an event, rising to 60% of children feeling highly connected to nature after the event, as indicated by an adapted Illustrated Inclusion of Nature in Self scale.
A sample of 1264 community and corporate volunteers
Lead teacher survey 2023 results, based on 13 schools
Lead teacher survey 2023 results, based on 14 schools
Project Highlights
Check out some of the 2022/23 projects we're especially proud of across these four critical areas.
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Breaking down barriers to nature
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Greening the grey
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Inspiring the next generation
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Connecting the nation to trees
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Trees planted in the 22/23 planting season. 204,028 trees were planted across the UK, including 30,311 trees planted in London.
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Brilliant people connected with us.
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School projects worked on in the UK. We also engaged 24,808 students.
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Trees planted to date! We're on track to plant our 2 millionth tree during our 23-24 planting season, and we're excited to bring you along on this journey.