Portugal plans urban cooling and flood control to 2035
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Portuguese authorities released a strategy to cool cities and reduce flooding risks across the country, extending to 2035.
The plan responds to increasingly frequent extreme weather events, including severe storms earlier this year. It focuses on increasing green spaces, planting trees for shade, restoring waterways, and making soils more permeable to absorb rainfall.
The government is currently testing these solutions in five pilot cities, Évora, Beja, Vila Real, Guimarães, and São João da Madeira, and intends to use the results to guide implementation in other towns and cities. Data from these projects will be available to the public through the Territorial Information Portal. The program aims to prevent any loss of urban green space and tree cover by 2030, with plans for growth after 2031.
This initiative also aligns with European Union goals requiring member states to plant at least three billion trees across the EU by 2030, and the government expects funding from the next EU Multiannual Financial Framework to support the expansion of the program. Minister of Environment and Energy Maria da Graça Carvalho stated the strategy marks a shift “from planning to concrete intervention on the ground.”
