Trees to Combat Pollution

All trees have a positive impact on their environment. Research suggests that some have particularly strong attributes for improving air quality. Our recommended tree list highlights varieties that are particularly strong in three areas of pollution:

Removing air pollution particulates (PM2.5)

PM2.5 air particulates are those fine, miniscule particulates found in car exhausts, for example. These are dangerous and can cause a myriad of breathing and heart problems.

CO2 sequestration

All trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air to some extent, but some varieties are particularly proficient.

Countering the Urban Heat Island effect (UHI)

Man-made construction materials concentrated in a small area – like roads and buildings – can cause higher temperatures by absorbing heat and radiating it back into the environment. All trees have the ability to counter this by cooling their immediate surrounds through transpiration and creating shade. Again, some trees are particularly powerful in this regard.

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Pollution combatting tree list

An x indicates a high rating against that topic. Please note, this is not an exhaustive list and will continue to expand as more trees are subject to tests. One further tree to acknowledge is Hippophae salicifolia ‘Streetwise.’ One form of pollution that can penetrate soil is salt – particularly from de-icing roads. This is a stand-out tree, proven to remove road salts from the soil.

	Removing air pollution	C02 sequestration	Countering UHI
Acer campestre (and cultivars)	X
Acer platanoides (and cultivars)		X	X
Acer rubrum (and cultivars)	X		X
Aesclus indicia	X	X
Alnus (all species and cultivars)		X
Betula albosinensis/ermanii/nigra/utilius (and cultivars)		X
Betula pendula (and cultivars)	X
Carpinus betulus (and cultivars)	X
Castanea sativa	X	X	X
Corylus colurna	X
Crataegus laevigata Paul’s Scarlet		X
Fagus sylvatica		X	X
Juglans nigra	X	X	X
Juglans regia		X	X
Liriodendron tulipifera			X
Magnolia Galaxy			X
Magnolia Kobus	X	X	X
Malus (all)	X	X
Pinus nigra/sylvestris	X
Platanus hispanica	X	X	X
Prunus Accolade	X	X
Pyrus Chanticleer		X
Quercus robur (and cultivars)	X	X	X
Salix alba	X	X	X
Sorbus aria (and cultivars)		X
Sorbus aucuparia (and cultivars)		X
Taxus and Taxodium	X
Tilia cordata, euchlora and tomentosa (and cultivars)		X	X
Tilia Platyphyllos (and cultivars)	X	X	X
Ulmus New Horizon, Rebona and Fiorente	X	X	X