Australians face a hotter future if our cities don’t do more to cool ‘heat islands’, report finds

Most major Australian cities will be far hotter than forecast in coming years, as a lack of vegetation creates “heat islands,” especially in poorer areas, a new report warns.

The report, Temperature Check: Greening Australia’s Warming Cities, commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation, found green spaces in almost all major cities had declined in the last decade.

The country’s greenest capital, Hobart, was the only city to increase its green cover between 2013 and 2020 — but even then, it was only by 1 per cent.

The report said other…