As our cities get warmer, it is becoming more important to track how urban heat is affecting communities.
The Department collects urban heat and canopy data to enable evidence-based planning by Government, industry and communities, creating more sustainable and resilient places to live, work and play.
Tree canopy data
The Department works with ArborCarbon to acquire a tree canopy data for the Greater Sydney region. The data allows Greater Sydney councils and the NSW Government to make more informed decisions and track urban tree canopy cover progress across Greater Sydney.
This latest update shows Greater Sydney’s tree canopy has increased from 21% in 2019 to 21.7% in 2022, with the most gains in Central and Western Sydney local government areas. These gains align with recent government investment in urban greening programs, which have prioritised the hottest areas in Greater Sydney.
The 2022 canopy dataset is available on the SEED portal in two forms:
- Tree canopy data: canopy cover summarised to a modified mesh block scale, a common unit of measurement used by the ABS.
- Canopy access data: canopy cover summarised in a hexagonal grid, allowing for more fine-grained analysis.
The detailed dataset that underpins the publicly available data was developed using aerial imagery and shows canopy cover, tree height, vegetation health, land surface temperature and individual trees at a fine scale (0.48-meter resolution). To protect ArborCarbon’s IP, this dataset is not publicly available, however Greater Sydney Councils and NSW Government agencies or their subcontractors (pending approval) can request access to the detailed canopy data by submitting a registration form on the NSW Planning Portal.
Urban heat data
The Department developed the Greater Sydney Heat Vulnerability Index (HVI) in collaboration with RMIT University to understand how communities are affected by heat, and the underlying drivers of that vulnerability to enable targeted intervention and urban heat mitigation.
Heat vulnerability is determined using a series of input datasets, including canopy cover, land surface temperature and demographic information. Greater Sydney areas are identified as having a heat vulnerability level, ranging from one to five, with one representing the lowest heat vulnerability and five representing the highest.
Latest data
View the 2022 canopy cover data for Greater Sydney.
View the 2022 canopy access data for Greater Sydney.
View the 2022 heat vulnerability index data for Greater Sydney.
This data acquisition is part of the Department’s urban greening programs, which include a range of partnerships and projects such as Greener Neighbourhoods, to help councils strategically plan for and manage urban forests in their local government areas.
The Green Infrastructure User Interface is a data platform and tool available to Greater Sydney councils for free, enabling users to view and analyse a range of Greater Sydney vegetation, canopy and urban heat datasets within administrative or custom boundaries.
To sign up to access the user interface, Greater Sydney councils can register their interest on the NSW Planning Portal. A limited number of licenses can also be made available to NSW Government agency employees.
These historic datasets are available at the SEED Portal:
- 2019 tree canopy to modified mesh block
- 2016 urban vegetation cover to modified mesh block
- 2016 urban heat island and heat vulnerability index dataset.
See the data analysis section for tips on undertaking over time data analysis.
Supporting documents
The Department has published summary statistics alongside the 2022 canopy cover and 2022 heat vulnerability index datasets; these statistics are available at the SEED Portal.
Over time data analysis
Canopy data
It is important to note that the Department’s canopy datasets for 2016, 2019 and 2022 were captured and processed using different methods, technologies and resolutions. Care should be taken when comparing canopy cover between datasets, especially in LGAs with a lower proportion of Metropolitan Urban Area (MUA), as some observed differences may be a result of variations in methodologies rather than actual change in canopy cover.
Heat vulnerability index
Broad comparisons can be made between the 2022 and 2016 HVI datasets, however, it is recommended to examine the changes in the underlying datasets and the absolute values of the heat exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity indicators rather than changes in HVI categories. This approach helps to explain the variations in HVI and informs effective heat mitigation strategies.
The 2022 canopy dataset was informed by feedback from Greater Sydney councils and is a move towards best practice green infrastructure data provision for the NSW Government.
The next canopy data is being acquired over the 2024–25 summer season and is expected to be released in late 2025. Priority will be placed on ensuring comparability with previous datasets.
Heat vulnerability index assessments do not need to be undertaken as regularly as canopy data acquisitions, allowing for changes in the underlying heat vulnerability factors to occur. The Department will provide information about future heat vulnerability index assessments in due course.
All data acquired by the Department complies with Departmental privacy guidelines and practices.