26 UK Towns and Cities Named Tree Cities of the World for 2025
26 urban areas in the UK have been awarded Tree City of the World status for 2025, recognising their commitment to improving urban tree management and creating greener, healthier, and more climate‑resilient communities.
Cities across all four UK nations — among them Edinburgh, Belfast, and Cardiff — join an international network of 280 Tree Cities across 23 countries, all dedicated to advancing sustainable urban forestry.
Building on this UK-wide success, we’re thrilled to see the network grow even further this year with Halton Borough Council and the London Borough of Lewisham joining the network for the first time.
About the programme
Tree Cities of the World is a global programme co‑founded in 2019 by the Arbor Day Foundation, the world’s largest non‑profit organisation dedicated to planting trees, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
To earn Tree City of the World status, towns and cities must:
- have clear responsibility for tree care,
- set official tree management rules,
- update an inventory of local tree resources,
- allocate a dedicated tree planting budget, and
- hold an annual tree celebration event with the community.
This year’s recognised UK Tree Cities are Barking and Dagenham, Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Camden, Cardiff, Coventry, Doncaster, Edinburgh, Halton, Hull, Ipswich, Islington, Leeds, Lewisham, Newcastle upon Tyne, Newport, Redbridge, Sheffield, Solihull, Stockton‑on‑Tees, Telford, Tower Hamlets, Welwyn Hatfield, Wirral, and Wokingham.
Collectively, the efforts of the 26 recognised towns and cities have resulted in the planting of almost half a million trees in the past year alone, demonstrating the scale and impact of their urban greening commitments.
Introducing the Growth Awards: A New Chapter for Tree Cities of the World
As the programme expands, the Arbor Day Foundation, together with the leaders of the initiative, are piloting Tree City Growth Awards, which recognise urban areas that go above and beyond the five core standards.
In 2025, Telford and Tower Hamlets became the first two UK local authorities to secure this new accolade ahead of its formal launch later this year.
The success of Tree Cities of the World is built on strong global partnerships, and Trees for Cities has been instrumental in advancing this work in the UK and beyond. The introduction of the pilot Growth Award marks an exciting evolution of the programme, recognising not just commitment, but measurable progress and leadership. Together, we're supporting cities to grow stronger, more resilient urban forests for generations to come.
Dan Lambe, Chief Executive of the Arbor Day Foundation
Trees for Cities leads the promotion of Tree Cities of the World in the UK, and supports the recognised cities to advance their urban planting efforts.
Trees for Cities is proud to lead Tree Cities of the World in the UK, recognising and celebrating councils that demonstrate high standards in urban forestry. We are inspired by every town and city recognised this year and proud to stand beside them as they build greener and healthier urban environments for present and future generations.
Kate Sheldon, Chief Executive of Trees for Cities
Both Telford and Tower Hamlets showcased stand-out examples of community planting initiatives promoting the environmental, social and health benefits of trees while giving residents particularly children and young people a chance to reconnect with nature.
We are incredibly proud to be recognised as the leading Tree City in the UK, being the only authority to have earned Tree City of the World recognition and achieve all five Growth Awards. This is a remarkable achievement and makes us all the more excited and committed to establishing, protecting and safeguarding a greener, healthier Tower Hamlets for everyone.
Adam Armstrong, Senior Arboricultural Officer for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
The complete list of recognised towns and cities is available at treecitiesoftheworld.org.
Tree Cities of the World
We're proud to be part of the Tree Cities of the World programme, connecting cities around the world to create a network dedicated to sharing how we all manage urban trees and forests to make our cities greener and more robust.
Click here to learn moreDonate to Trees for Cities and together we can help cities grow into greener, cleaner and healthier places for people to live and work worldwide.
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