IMCD Italy donates 600 trees to promote urban forestry in Milan

This initiative, supported by the IMCD Cares Fund, is part of the reforestation project led by Forestami to plant 3 million trees by 2030

Urban forests create a sense of place and well-being where people live, work, play, and learn and help mitigate climate change and improve air quality. Trees are also crucial for places characterized by warm climates. In this regard, FAO1 reports that the strategic placement of trees in cities can help lower the air temperature by two to eight degrees Celsius, making that sticky urban heat just a little more bearable. Additionally, large trees are also excellent at absorbing pollutant gases and filtering fine particulates such as dust, dirt or smoke out of the air by trapping them on their leaves and bark.

 

The European Environment Agency conducted a study in 2021 to determine the air quality among 323 cities across the continent over the past two years. According to this research, Milan, Italy, was ranked 303 as one of the most polluted cities in Europe with an average level of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) twice as high as the standard set by the World Health Organization2.

 

However, The Municipality of Milan has been trying to improve the air quality of the city by promoting initiatives like Forestami, a research project carried out by the Polytechnic University of Milan. The study analysed and assessed the state and percent of coverage of the natural greenery in the two-year period 2018-2020, arriving at an estimated Tree Canopy Coverage (the surface area occupied by tree crowns over the entire territory) of 16%3. This was the starting point for Milan to be recognised by the Tree Cities of the World programme as one of the 120 cities in the world committed to ensure that their urban forests and trees are properly maintained, and sustainably4. 

Now, Forestami is leading a project that involves the planting of 3 million trees by 2030 throughout the metropolitan area of the city in order to clean the air, improve living conditions, and counter the effects of climate change. With all this in mind, IMCD Italy, supported by the IMCD Cares Fund, partnered with Forestami to donate over 600 trees to the city of Milan in 2021.

 

IMCD’s involvement in this project is part of the company’s commitment to sustainability. “For us, it was an easy choice to collaborate with Forestami because it was obvious from the outset that our goals were aligned and in synergy”, states Chiara Salvadori, Communications Manager at IMCD Italy.  


“This partnership means cultivating a brighter future and raising awareness around environmental issues, starting in-house with our own people” - Chiara Salvadori, IMCD Italy Communication Manager

Together with the Forestami team , more than 40 of our Italian colleagues planted 250 trees. They gathered up in the North Park of Milan embracing this ambitious plan and expressing their enthusiasm for a chance to make the city surroundings healthier, more liveable, and sustainable.


The project provides five years of maintenance for the planted trees, until they can live by their own. The IMCD Italy team will have the chance to see their urban forest grow, a truly tangible act of the teams’ dedication and effort to contribute to a more sustainable living.


“We are glad to have had the opportunity to collaborate with Forestami and contribute to its ambitious goal", states Marco Madeddu, Managing Director IMCD Italy. "For the years to come, we will reconfirm our support to this key project for our city and for the environment, since in our company, sustainability is in what we do. We believe environmental care is fundamental to achieve a sustainable global economy, now and for the future".


Because the most precious tree is the one you give to your city.

Enable third party cookies to play this video

Below you can enable third party cookies. Your choice will be saved and the page will not refresh.

Disabled

Enabled

References

1 http://www.treecitiesoftheworld.org/
2 https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/air/urban-air-quality/european-city-air-quality-viewer
3 https://forestami.org/en/
4 http://www.treecitiesoftheworld.org/directory.cfm