Chennai: Tamil Nadu is preparing a roadmap to measure how urban tree plantations and the biomass they generate help tackle climate change and strengthen city resilience. The framework, developed under the Indo-German Support Project for Climate Action in India, proposes a system to assess climate benefits such as carbon storage in tree biomass, urban cooling, groundwater recharge and flood control from the state’s expanding urban forestry programmes, The New Indian Express reported.
The roadmap has been prepared under the Indo-German Support Project for Climate Action in India and suggests a method to evaluate the climate-related benefits of urban forestry initiatives in the state. These benefits include carbon storage in trees, cooling of urban areas, improvement in groundwater recharge, flood control and support for biodiversity.
Urban forestry programmes are mainly aimed at increasing green cover and improving biodiversity in cities. However, the document notes that their broader climate benefits have rarely been measured in a structured manner, which has limited their role in policy planning and climate reporting.
I Anwardeen, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Mission Director of the Green Tamil Nadu Mission, said the state planted about 14.16 crore seedlings between 2022–23 and 2025–26 across an area of around 1.28 lakh hectares.
He said preliminary estimates indicate that these plantations absorb around two to three lakh tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. While separate data on urban plantations is still being compiled, officials estimate that nearly 25 lakh seedlings have been planted in urban areas so far, with another seven lakh planned this year. He added that the main challenges include the availability of land and the long-term maintenance of plantations.
The proposed system will assess both climate mitigation and adaptation benefits of urban forestry. For mitigation, it will estimate how much carbon dioxide trees remove from the atmosphere as they grow, using field measurements such as tree diameter or standard carbon storage estimates.
For adaptation, the framework focuses on four key aspects: reducing the urban heat island effect, improving groundwater recharge, managing stormwater and floods, and increasing biodiversity. Trees can lower temperatures through shade and moisture release, while vegetation also helps absorb rainwater and reduce surface runoff.
The roadmap also highlights challenges in implementing such monitoring systems. These include limited awareness among field staff about climate benefits, lack of baseline data, inadequate training and limited use of technologies such as remote sensing and environmental sensors. More than 25 organisations were consulted while preparing the framework.
Officials say the system could be introduced gradually through policy guidance, pilot projects, training programmes and by linking it with existing urban forestry schemes.
Supriya Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary in the state government, said such assessments could support India’s climate reporting under its Nationally Determined Contributions and also help attract funding through government programmes, corporate social responsibility initiatives and carbon markets.
