New mayor hopes trees will cool Athens down

ATHENS – Athens’ new mayor will plant 25,000 trees over the next five years to try to cool the sprawling Greek capital, he told AFP.
Scorching summer heatwaves can make the city of tightly-packed concrete office and apartment blocks almost unbearable, with temperatures topping 40 degrees Celsius.
Former energy professor Haris Doukas, who was elected in October, faces a daunting mix of pollution, soaring temperatures and traffic gridlock.
His answer is to plant 5,000 trees a year to create “cool routes” of shade connecting Athens’ streets, parks and urban hills.
“High temperatures, pollution and the loss of greenery create conditions where the city centre is unbearable in the summer,” Doukas said.
Part of the total includes 3,000 trees at a new sports complex by the Panathinaikos club in the industrial district of Votanikos, slated to be completed in 2026.
Last summer Athens baked through a sustained heatwave that saw temperatures consistently top 40C.
The National Observatory of Athens said July was the warmest on record since it began monitoring data in 1863.
Athens municipality has around 650,000 residents, but some three million people commute in and out of the city centre every day.
Carpooling will be encouraged to cut the city’s notorious traffic congestion, the mayor said.