Climate change is threatening residents of Minneapolis, with hotter temperatures, destructive storms, extreme precipitation events, flooding, and changing ecosystems. The least advantaged people are impacted the most and scientists predict these effects will worsen over the coming decades.
A key strategy for mitigating the effects of climate change is to expand the tree canopy coverage. Trees sequester carbon, capture stormwater, filter air pollutants, cool streets and buildings, and provide wildlife habitat. According to a University of Minnesota study, our tree canopy will continue to decline without action.
Twin Cities Climate Resiliency Initiative
Green Minneapolis’ Twin Cities Climate Resiliency Initiative is a public/private partnership focused on significantly expanding the urban tree canopy across Minneapolis and the 7 county Twin Cities metropolitan area. Designed to address the most harmful impacts of climate change on our region’s residents, it is a 20 year vision to increase the Metro area’s tree canopy by 30% through planting and maintaining millions of additional trees on public and private lands. This initiative includes identifying new funding sources for tree planting and maintenance, including establishing Minnesota’s first urban tree carbon offset program.
Green Minneapolis has formed a coalition of environmentally focused organizations to support the initiative, including the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, Trust for Public Land, The Nature Conservancy, Minneapolis Parks Foundation, Friends of the Mississippi River, Mississippi Park Connection, Mississippi Watershed Management Organization, Sagiliti and the Minneapolis Regional Chamber.
A key new funding source for the Twin Cities Climate Resiliency Initiative is the establishment of the first urban tree carbon offset program in Minnesota.
Carbon offsets programs allow businesses or individuals to offset their environmental footprint by paying for carbon credits from other entities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Twin Cities Climate Resiliency Initiative will bring together individuals and companies that are taking action on their environmental footprint by investing in the local tree canopy and community. Learn how you can get involved today!
Benefits of the Twin Cities Climate Resiliency Initiative
Resources Library
- Researchers note correlation between trees and longevity
- Can trees save lives?
- 22 Reasons Trees in Cities Keep Us Healthy and Save Us Money
- Climate change is forcing cities to rethink their tree mix
- City street trees mitigate climate change better than expected
- Emerald ash borer creating a crisis in Hennepin County suburbs
- How planting trees fights racial inequity and climate change in Twin Cities’ poorest neighborhoods
- Minnesota’s Ash Trees Are on the Chopping Block
- How Pedestrian-Friendly Are Downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul Streetscapes?
- The State Of Downtown Minneapolis Streetscapes
- In San Antonio, the Poor Live on Their Own Islands of Heat
- Plans to fight global warming face an obstacle in Paris: Trees
- Urban forest carbon credits gain momentum
- Deaths of 3 Chicago women in early heat wave raise questions, fears
- St. Paul neighbors object to county plan to cut down 160 trees along Cleveland Av.
- MPCA: One in four Minnesota communities do not have plans to address extreme weather caused by climate change
- St. Paul parks rank No. 2 in the country; Minneapolis slips to 5th
- Shady practices: New mapping tool shows inequity of tree coverage in the metro
- Could Carbon Credits Help Fund City’s Public Green Space?
- A Million More Trees for New York City: Leaders Want a Greener Canopy
- Cities Net $1 Million from Carbon Credit Sales
- Seeing Community Through The Trees
- A Blueprint For Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets To Meet The Climate Challenge
- Want to Understand Carbon Credits?
- With $7.1 Million, University of Minnesota and Partners to Launch a Long-term Program to Study Urban Nature in the Twin Cities
- Being around trees and other greenery may help teens stave off depression
- The Miyawaki Method: A Better Way to Build Forests?
- Since When Have Trees Only Existed for Rich Americans?
- What Technology Could Reduce Heat Deaths? Trees.
- We Need Trees, and Trees Need Us
- Turn Off the Sunshine: Why Shade Is a Mark of Privilege in Los Angeles
- Why an East Harlem Street is 31 Degrees Hotter Than Central Park West
- The Trees Might Save Us Yet
- Growing Shade for a More Livable Region